Exploring normal South African and British children: a comparative study utilizing the Griffiths Mental Development Scales- extended revised

The health status of a substantial number of South African children can be classified as “children at risk” (Luiz, 1999) as the majority of children are influenced by factors such as poverty, poor living conditions and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. These are only some of the influences that contribute significantly to the health status of South African children and consequently their development. It can thus be argued that developmental assessment is imperative in the South African context. One of the most important reasons are that children with special needs in South Africa can be identified and given the opportunity to catch up developmentally and cope successfully as opposed to those who are identified much later (Foxcroft & Roodt, 2006). Furthermore, children in South Africa must begin Grade one in the year in which they turn seven. They may only enter grade one if the school has an opening and if the necessary evidence is provided to the Department of Education that the child will be able to cope with the demands of formal schooling (Department of Education, 2002). Developmental assessment measures therefore needs to be appropriate, accurate and informative in the modern South African context. The need for a measuring instrument to assess children’s overall development and thus their developmental readiness to cope with the demands of formal schooling could be satisfied by the Griffiths Mental Development Scales – Extended Revised (GMDS-ER). This recently revised measure has not been normed on a representative, contemporary South African sample. The purpose of the study was therefore to generate information on the applicability of British norms for the contemporary South African population. This study compared and explored the performance of South African and British children aged 5-years and 6-years on the Griffiths Mental Development Scales - Extended Revised (GMDS-ER). A contemporary South African sample was obtained by testing children between the ages of 5-years and 6-years on the GMDS-ER, whilst the British sample was drawn from the United Kingdom and Eire standardization sample. The British sample was screened for normality and a similar process was followed to establish normality for the South African sample. A matched simple frequency distribution technique (taking into account age, socioeconomic status and gender as variables) was employed to approximate the equivalence between the samples. The profiles were compared by conducting an independent sample t-test with subsequent post hoc analyses to explore potential differences in the performance of the two samples. The major findings of the present study were as follows: 1. There is a significant difference between the South African and British children’s overall developmental profiles (as measured by the GMDS-ER). 2. Generally, South African children performed better on the Locomotor subscale and the Personal Social Subscale (although not statistically significant), whilst British children performed statistically better on the Language, Eye and Hand Co-ordination, and Practical Reasoning Subscales. 3. No significant differences were found for the Performance Subscale which could indicate that South African and British children’s performances on this scale are similar. Further investigations into the applicability of the GMDS-ER for the contemporary South African context are recommended and the establishment of South African norms for clinical utilization is essential. Caution with regard to the utilization of the British–based norms in the South African context is final recommendations