SBIR-STTR Award

Developmental Technologies proposes to develop the MAP-Screen, a short screening test to determine which preschool-aged children are at risk for learning disabilities. The MAP-Screen will be developed from the research of the Miller Assessment for Preschoolers (MAP), a more comprehensive, predictive instrument, and serve as a companion product to the MAP.The MAP-Screen is being proposed in direct response to requests from publishers and consumers to develop a product that would be as reliable but shorter in length and less expensive. Comprehensive item selection will occur to meet recognized psychometric standards for test development and practical considerations. Item selection will be based on: extensive, previous item research and predictive validity, test-retest, and reliability coefficients for each item; cost; administration time; and marketing considerations. The resulting pool of items will be pilottested on 160 Colorado children (N=120 normal, N=40 at risk) and data on estimates of item difficulty and discrimination will be analyzed. In Phase II, the MAP-Screen will be nationally standardized on a sample of 3,200 children stratified by age (2 to 6 years), race, sex, and socioeconomic status according to U.S. Census statistics. Manufacturing and marketing will be undertaken by a major publishing fimm.National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

The long-term objective of this project is a better understanding of normal preschool functioning and developmental risk factors in motor, language, cognition, self-help, and behavior domains. Specific aims include refinement and validation of new, cost-effective screening that combines (1) accuracy in predicting risk, (2) sensitivity to the full range of mild to severe deficits, (3) cultural fairness, and (4) applicability to Spanish-speaking children. In year 1, the study will include a sampling of 593 normal children, 800 at-risk children (in two severity groupings), and 210 Spanish-speaking children, as well as conducting reliability and validity studies. The focus will be a series of doublecross-validation studies serving to identify an optimum set of items for further study. In year 2, the study will include a sampling of 1,709 normal, 200 at-risk (in two severity groups), and 210 Spanish-speaking children; extensive decision consistency studies will be conducted.The four primary goals are to: (1) establish equivalency scores and optimum cutpoints by comparisons with standardized criteria, (2) establish the accuracy of predictions through extensive double-cross-validation studies, (3) analyze short-term predictive validity data and initiate a long-term predictive validity study, (4) develop and validate a Spanish version of the screening, and (5) eliminate item bias by analyzing the data of a large ethnic minority group.

Anticipated Results:
An estimated 11 million preschoolers each year participate in some form of developmental screening through programs in school districts, hospitals, pediatrician offices, well-baby clinics, and health maintenance organizations. An increase in assessment activity is expected with the implementation of Public Law 99457, which mandates early intervention. This research will result in a cost-effective screening procedure with wide applications in both public and private efforts to identify all children at risk.National Institute of Child Health and Human Development