Miller Assessment for Preschoolers (MAP)

Posted on: March 12, 2015 | By: thinesley | Filed under: Miller Assessment of Preschoolers (MAP)

Descriptive Information

  1. Title, Edition, Dates of Publication and Revision*
    1. Miller Assessment for Preschoolers (MAP)
    2. Published in 1982, revision in 1988
  2. Author (s)
    1. Lucy Jane Miller. PhD, OTR, FAOTA
  3. Source (publisher or distributor, address)
    1. Pearson
  4. Costs (booklets, forms, kit)*
    1. MAP manual – $160
    2. MAP drawing booklet, scoring sheets for various ages or record booklet (pack of 25) – $56
    3. MAP kit – $860
  5. Purpose*
    1. To evaluate children of preschool age for mild – moderate developmental delays. Outcome can be used to help determine individualized education plans and individual family service plan. Three core test items are tested: sensory and motor abilities, cognitive abilities and combined abilities.
    2. The test consists of 27 subtest, grouped into five developmental areas: Foundation Index (assesses basic sensory-motor abilities), Coordination Index (consists of more complex gross, fine and oral motor tasks), Verbal Index (language items testing verbal memory, sequencing, comprehension, association and expression), Non-verbal index (non-spoken items examining memory, sequencing, visualization and mental manipulations), and Complex Tasks Index (the interpretation of visual-spatial information).
  6. Type of Test (eg, screening, evaluative; interview, observation, checklist or inventory)*
    1. Evaluative, interview, observation
  7. Target Population and Ages*
    1. Preschool age children
    2. 2 years 8 months – 5 years 9 months old
  8. Time Requirements – Administration and Scoring*
    1. 30 – 40 minutes

 

Test Administration

  1. Administration
    1. ‘Game-like’ so the child perceives it as fun
    2. Administered by a qualified professional as mentioned above
  2. Scoring
    1. Objective
    2. A developmental score is developed/calculated from the scores obtained in five developmental areas.
    3. Each subtest is scored on a scale of 1-7 with 3-5 considered normal.
    4. Final scoring is presented as a percentile compared to normative data of the appropriate age group
      1. A child scoring in the red range is <5% of normative data and indicative of a high likelihood for developing a developmental disability
      2. A child scoring in the yellow range is between the 6th and 25th percentile indicates a risk of a developmental disability
      3. A child scoring in the green range is 26-99% of the normative sample and indicates average or above average performance
      4. The MAP is able to discriminate between mild – moderate developmental delays, but does not able to differentiate among the children that score in the higher percentiles in the green range6.
      5. ‘Examiners can establish the cutoff points most appropriate for their own purpose’4.
  3. Type of information, resulting from testing (e.g. standard scores, percentile ranks)
    1. A percentile can be determined from the score that the child receives compared to normative values in their age group
  4. Environment for Testing
    1. Educational environment normal for Preschool aged children
  5. Equipment and Materials Needed
    1. MAP complete kit à includes all necessary instructions, scoring sheets for all ages, drawing booklets, pictures and materials needed to administer the test.
  6. Examiner Qualifications
    1. Differing information: both B and C qualifications
    2. Need a masters or doctorate in psychology, education, OT, social work or a field related to assessment
    3. A degree or license to practice in the allied healthcare field
  7. Evidence of Reliability
    1. Interrater and test-retest reliabilities range from .84 – .99
  8. Evidence of Validity’
    1. Research shows that the Miller Assessment for Preschoolers is a valid tool for screening Preschool aged children for developmental delays. Articles supporting the validity of this test are referenced below.

 

Summary Comments

Strengths of this test include the extensive topics that are covered to rank children and how it helps create a percentile for children based off the normative data for their age group. Another strength is how you can determine a specific area/s of weakness and focus on that area for the child in therapy. The test requires higher qualifications to administer the test, which ensures the person administering the test has adequate knowledge to rate the child they are testing. The Miller Assessment for Preschoolers helps provide an outcome measure to set a child’s educational path and provides a value for educators and therapist to refer back to see if the child is progressing. The total score and complex task index is the best indicators to distinguish between differing developmental disabilities, but the vernal and non-verbal indices are the least accurate according to Daniels5. Other positives include the reported validity and reliability. Negatives about MAP include the cost; it is very expensive and requires a lot of items to be purchased. The time it takes to administer the test is equal or close to the normal time that most therapists will get in one session with their patients. Lastly it is difficult to get an idea of what a sample of the test would look like without purchasing the whole test. Overall I feel this test would not be appropriate to administer in a physical therapy clinic due to the negative factors listed above. With increasing cost of insurance and decreasing therapist visits being covered efficiency is a large deterrent for using this to screen children. It seems the exam would be more beneficial in the educational system in order to accurately place a child into a program based off of their developmental delay.

 

Research article

Leosdottir T, Egilson ST, Georgsdottir I. Performance on extremely low birthweight children at 5 years of age on the Miller Assessment for Preschoolers. Phys Occup Ther Pediatr. 2005;25(4):59-72. PubMed PMID: 16418116.

The research article I chose was comparing the MAP scores of 32 children with extremely low birth (ELBW; <1000g or 2.2 lbs) and 55 children born full-term in 1991-1995, in Iceland, to determine if there was any differences. The control group consisted of 12 boys and 43 girls born full term. The ELBW group consisted of 6 boys and 26 girls. The ELBW children were matched with one or two children from the control group; the children were matched according to date of birth and gender of the children. The selection criteria for the control group was a gestational age >/= 37 weeks, a birth weight of >/= 2500g or 5.5lbs, Apgar score of >/= 7 and no known developmental impairments upon enrollment. All children were in the fourth age group of the MAP, which is 4yrs 3 mos – 4 yrs 8 mos. Each child completed the MAP individually according the procedures outlined in the MAP manual, at the same time of day and using identical settings for each child. The results showed a significant difference in the following categories: total score, Foundations, Coordination and Complex-Tasks indices. These categories show that babies born with ELBW had decreased abilities in basic motor tasks, coordination and fine motor skills compared to the control. The authors argued that these results show that there is a need for early assessment to help the development in babies born prematurely. Strengths of this research are the number of children they tested and the detail of their procedures, which should be easily replicated. Weaknesses include how old this research is; since it was originally published in the 90s it is outdated. I can not rely on this article solely as proof that the MAP is a great outcome measure in determining developmental delays for preschool aged children, more current research is needed.

 

Resources

  1. http://www.pearsonclinical.com/therapy/products/100000581/miller-assessment-for-preschoolers-map.html#tab-details
  2. http://www.wpspublish.com/store/p/2861/miller-assessment-for-preschoolers-map
  3. Parush S, Yochman A, Jessel AS, Shapiro M, Mazor-Karsenty T. Construct validity of the miller assessment for preschoolers and the pediatric examination of educational readiness for children.Phys Occup Ther Pediatr. 2002;22(2):7-27. http://www.nclive.org.ezproxy.elon.edu/cgi-bin/nclsm?url=%22http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.elon.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=c8h&AN=2002171911&site=ehost-live%22.
  4. Banus, B. The Miller Assessment for Preschoolers (MAP): An Introduction and Review. American Journal of Occupation Therapy. 1983: 37, 333-340. http://ajot.aota.org/article.aspx?articleid=1887139.
  5. Daniels, L. The Miller Assessment for Preschoolers: Construct Validity and Clinical Use With Children With Developmental Disabilities. American Journal of Occupation Therapy.1998: 52, 857-865. http://ajot.aota.org/article.aspx?articleid=1862620.
  6. Leosdottir T, Egilson ST, Georgsdottir I.Performance on extremely low birthweight children at 5 years of age on the Miller Assessment for Preschoolers. Phys Occup Ther Pediatr. 2005;25(4):59-72. PubMed PMID: 16418116.

By: Tiffany Patterson

 

2 responses to “Miller Assessment for Preschoolers (MAP)”

  1. vmoody says:
    March 12, 2015 at 7:06 pm

    When I was reading the information for this test and saw that it required 30-40 minutes to administer I was very weary of how likely the administrator would get a young child to participate for that long period of time. As I continued to read, I saw that the outcome measure is administered to appear like “play time” to the child. I’m very glad that is the case because I do not believe a young child would be willing to focus for that extended period of time if they did not perceive it as fun. I am also curious about the appropriate age range for using this test. I am curious as to why 2 years 8 months – 5 years 9 months old is the age range versus 2.5 years or 3 years old to 6 years old. I would like to know more about the determining factors for the age cut off.

  2. ahoffmeyer2 says:
    March 15, 2015 at 8:43 pm

    Incredible amount of time, money, and qualifications of the tester to administer this test. But, with the strength of being able to focus in on the deficits to determine the educational path of that child is quite significant. Within the right environment the child may be able to improve more significantly. Yet, how accurate is one administration of this test on a given day? If the child has an significant attention disorder is it going to skew the data. I agree with Victoria, any child on this matter may not have the attention span to endure a 30-40 minute test.

Leave a Reply