Introduction

Age-appropriate physical development is a concept referring to both physical growth and the acquisition of motor skills.  Because infancy and childhood are periods of such rapid changes in physical size and motor ability, age-appropriate physical development is a valuable component of a child’s overall well-being.

Although the most dramatic physical growth occurs during the first year of life, most  children continue to grow steadily throughout childhood.  During the first year of life, the average infant’s birth weight triples, and height increases by 50%.  After the first year, children grow an average of 2 - 3 inches and gain 4 - 6 pounds each year.  Children’s body composition also changes between infancy and adolescence.  As children grow and exercise their muscles, they gain lean muscle mass (Worthington-Roberts & Williams, 1996). 

The development of motor ability is also an important component of age-appropriate physical development.  During infancy and childhood, most children pass through a series of predictable motor “milestones” that provide an index of developing muscle strength and control.  Typical milestones in infancy include head control, sitting, standing, walking, and hand and finger control.  During childhood, motor skills such as eye-hand coordination, finger control, and skills such as running, jumping, and galloping develop in most children.  Although the age of development varies greatly among individual children, the sequence of development is predictable (Shaffer, 1999).

Monitoring physical development can be an important aspect of comprehensive programming for infants and children at risk for two reasons.  First, children who live in families experiencing risk factors such as poverty, homelessness, or family violence have a higher risk of low birth weight and other health problems, including vision problems, poor nutrition, and developmental delays in acquiring basic motor skills (Braverman, Meyers, & Bloomberg, 1995; Solan & Mozlin, 1997).  Second, early identification of most developmental delays is crucial.  If most delays are identified early in development, their effects can be minimized through intensive early intervention. 
 

Suggested Indicators

The following are some appropriate indicators of positive program outcomes for children in the area of age-appropriate physical development, based on the NCEO model (Ysseldyke & Thurlow, 1993), as adapted for community-based programs by the Children’s Outcome Work Group.  The appropriateness of any given indicator for your program evaluation depends on the age of the children you serve, the setting, and the goals and activities of your particular program.
 

• Percent of children who are in the expected range of height and weight for their age

 
• Percent of children who achieve basic motor milestones within expected range of development

 
• Percent of children with appropriate nutrition

Summary

Age-appropriate physical development is an important component of overall well-being in all children.  Many State Strengthening community projects have the opportunity to monitor and enhance the physical development of children at risk.  When monitoring physical development in children at risk, project staff can help identify developmental delays and provide opportunities for physical activity as an integral part of their programming.  By focusing on physical development beginning in infancy, programs can help minimize the effects of developmental delays on later development.  In addition, community educators can provide parents with information concerning age-appropriate physical development.
 

References

Braverman, M. T., Meyers, J. M., Bloomberg, L.  (1995).  How youth programs can promote resilience. California Agriculture, 48, 30-32.

Papalia, D. E. & Olds, S. W.  (1995).  Human Development (6th ed.).  New York: McGraw-Hill.

Shaffer, D.  (1999).  Developmental Psychology: Childhood and Adolescence (5th Ed.).  Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Solan, H. A., &  Mozlin, R.  (1997).  Children in poverty: Impact on health, visual development, and school failure.  Journal of Optometric Vision Development, 28, 7-25.

Worthington-Roberts, B. S., & Williams, S. R.  (1996).  Nutrition Throughout the Life Cycle (3rd Ed.).  St. Louis: Mosby.

Ysseldyke, J. E., & Thurlow, M. (1993, October). Developing a model of educational outcomes (NCEO Report No. 1). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota, College of Education, National Center on Educational Outcomes.
 
 

MEASURES:  Demonstrates Age-appropriate Physical Development

The following standardized assessments are provided as examples of measures that may be useful for evaluation of community-based programs.  This listing is not comprehensive and is not intended as an endorsement of any particular measure.  Some of the assessment instruments that follow are copyrighted and require specific levels of training to administer.  Prices of measures are subject to change.  In deciding to use any standardized measures or checklists, it is important to review specific items and subscales to decide how well they fit your program.

Age-appropriate physical development can be assessed using a combination of formal standardized scales and existing or easily collectible records.  Measures of a child’s height and weight, when compared to standard growth tables, may provide an initial indicator of whether a child’s physical development is age-appropriate.  Such measurements may be collected from existing medical records or measured at regular intervals at community-based project sites. 

Caution is needed in interpreting height/weight measures, however.  Standardized tables provide a general benchmark for evaluating children’s height and weight, but individual children’s height and weight measurements may vary widely, due at least in part to genetic inheritance.  It is equally important to recognize that most children grow in spurts rather than at a steady rate.  Multiple measures of height and weight at regular intervals are needed to accurately assess children’s physical growth patterns.  For this reason, the existing records of health care providers or clinics may be the best source of height/weight data, provided that children are receiving regular check-ups (see section on access to basic health care for more details).

Standardized measures may provide a more complete index of children’s physical health and motor skill development.  The following measures include subscales that measure either physical growth or development of gross and fine motor skills.  Individual community-based programs should review these measures carefully before adopting them as a part of their evaluation plan.
 

1.  Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS) S. Sparrow, D. Balla, & D. Cicchetti
Date:  1985
Subtests:

Four domains and eleven subdomains:
  1) Communication (Receptive, Expressive, and 
       Written)
  2) Daily Living Skills (Personal, Domestic, and 
       Community)
  3) Socialization (Interpersonal Relationships, Play 
       and Leisure Time, and Coping Skills)
  4) Motor Skills (Gross and Fine)

American Guidance Service (AGS)  4201 Woodland Road
P.O.  Box 99
Circle Pines, MN  55014-1796
Phone: 1-800-328-2560

Check with AGS for current prices; prices vary for different versions.  Starter sets include manual, 10 questionnaire forms, and parent report forms.

3 - 12 years for Classroom edition; birth to 18 years for Interview edition

The Classroom edition is a 244-item questionnaire completed by teachers, and takes about 20 minutes to administer.  The Interview edition is administered to parents or caregivers as a semi-structured interview, and takes 20 - 60 minutes.  Qualified professionals must interpret the scores.  Computer programs may be purchased for analysis, and materials are available in Spanish.  Standardized on a large national sample that reflects U.S. census data.  Appears to be valid and flexible for use with a wide range of ages.

Subtests: 
 

Available Through:

 Denver Developmental Materials Inc.
 P.O. Box 371075
 Denver, CO  80237-5075
 (303) 355-4729
 1-(800) 419-4729
 Fax: (303) 355-5622
 Web: www.denverii.com

$19.00 (100 Test Forms, English); $20 (100 Test Forms, Spanish)

Ages 1 - 11 years

The Denver II is a revision of the Denver Developmental Screening Test (DDST), first published in 1967 to screen for potential developmental problems in young children between birth and age six.  It is an individually administered test that takes about 20 minutes to complete and is used to assess a child's performance on various age-appropriate tasks.  It is standardized, easily administered, and simply scored.  It fulfills an important role as a developmental screening instrument for both practical and research purposes.  The psychometrics of this assessment are considered good.  This assessment is quick to administer, easy to explain, and gives a good index of a child’s development on several dimensions.  The Denver II requires significant time to learn how to administer it correctly.  Because it is just a screening assessment, it is less appropriate for post-intervention follow-up assessments.  It is available in both English and Spanish.

3.  Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning, 3rd Edition (Dial-3)

Date: 1998

Subtests: 

Motor Development
Concepts Development
Language Development
Self-Help Development
Social Development

American Guidance Service
4201 Woodland Road
P. O. Box 99
Circle Pines, MN 55014-1796
Phone: 1-800-328-2560

$349.95 for complete kit to assess 50 children 

Children ages 3 years 0 months through 6 years 11 months

The Dial-3 is a revision of the Dial-R screening tool for early childhood.  It is a global screening tool that provides a general assessment of children’s developmental readiness in each of the five subtest areas. Some training is required to administer the Dial-3. Forms and manuals are available in both English and Spanish. An advantage of this assessment is it takes only twenty to thirty minutes to administer.  The kit also includes a short version that requires only 5 minutes to administer per subtest.

4.  Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (B-O) 
R. Bruininks
Date: 1978
Subtests: 

  1: Running Speed and Agility
  2: Balance
  3: Bilateral Coordination
  4: Strength
  5: Upper-Limb Coordination
  6: Response Speed
  7: Visual-Motor Control
  8: Upper-Limb Speed and Dexterity

  American Guidance Service
  4201 Woodland Road
  P. O. Box 99
  Circle Pines, MN 55014-1796
  Phone: 1-800-328-2560

$459.95 for complete kit with 25 Complete Battery forms and 25 Short Forms

Children and adolescents ages 4.5 years through 14.5 years

The Bruininks-Oseretsky is one of the most comprehensive measures of children’s motor skill currently in use.  The Complete Battery, which includes eight subscales of motor development, provides a comprehensive index of gross and fine motor skills in children and young adolescents.  The Complete Battery takes about 45 - 60 minutes to administer.  A Short Form, consisting of 14 items from the Complete Battery, provides a more global index of motor proficiency. The Short Form takes about 15 - 20 minutes to administer and may be used when large numbers of children must be tested in a limited amount of time.  The scale requires some training to administer.  Cost may be prohibitive for some programs.

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