Assessing Children Who Cannot Be ‘Tested‘

Abstract

The Scottish Low Birth weight Study was set up to follow the developmental progress of all children born in Scotland in 1984 weighing less than 1750 g. At 4.5 years, 636 children (71%) of the original cohort were still alive and 611 (96%) of these were assessed by a team of community child health doctors. Some children were found by them to be impossible to test using the standardised tests selected for the project. This paper describes adaptations which were made to the standardised tests to render them more accessible to children with specific difficulties. The modifications made enabled 27 children who could not initially be tested to complete some or all of the assessment procedure. It is suggested that inclusion of the assessments of children who retain intact skills despite being constrained in specific areas affords a more accurate measure of long‐term developmental handicap.