An Adaptation of the Minnesota Child Development Inventory for Preschool Developmental Screening1

A shortened version of the Minnesota Child Development Inventory (MCDI) was used to screen a countywide population (N = 382) of preschool children, age 52 to 64 months. A subset of 45 items from the general development (GD) scale was employed; MCDI norms were used to choose items expected to be passed by about 90 % of 52-month-old children. After screening with the shortened MCDI, a stratified sample of 120 children returned for criterion testing with the Stanford-Binet. The results indicated that the questionnaire items were age discriminating and that scores varied with socioeconomic status. Items most often omitted were those rated difficult for parents to observe. In predicting the Stanford-Binet, the items showed adequate sensitivity (.63) and specificity (.81), with an underreferral rate of 2.8%. The overreferral rate, however, was 17.9%. These indices declined when other criteria such as speech and language or motor assessments were considered in addition to IQ. This abbreviated version of the GD scale of the MCDI could be a useful prescreen or supplement to other developmental data for children of these ages and social classes. 'This investigation was supported in part by MCH grant MC-R-370427-02-0 and also by the R. W. Johnson Foundation. We were indebted to the staff of the Person County Health Department and Person County Board of Education for their collaboration in the join