Bayley Scales of Infant Motor Development (BSID-II) Article Summary
Çelik, P., Ayranci Sucakli, I.A., Yakut, H.I. Which Bayley-III cut-off values should be used in different development levels? Turkish Journal Medical Science. 2020; 50:764-770. doi:10.3906/sag-1910-69
The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (BSID-II) and the more recent version, Bayley-III are the most widely used standardized tool to assess development in infancy and early childhood (0-42 months). There has been increasing concern due to the Bayley-III scoring higher than the BSID-II, indicating that it is identifying significantly fewer children with developmental delays compared to its predecessor the BSID-II.
Purpose: The main purpose of this article was to determine the cutoff levels for determining mild, moderate, and severe developmental delays in the Bayley-III tool compared to that of the BDID-II
Population: The population in this study was 255 (115 girls and 140 boys) between 6-24 months old that were either healthy (20%) or had developmental risks and diseases (80%) including but not limited to, prematurity, cerebral palsy, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, speech delay, genetic diseases, and hearing loss.
Methods: Both the Bayley Scales (Bayley-III) and (BSID-II) were administered within the same session. The Bayley-III was administered first before the BSID-II as it was more detailed. Age adjusted was performed in premature children up to 2 years old.
Outcome Measures: Bayley-III and BSID-II
Intervention: There were no other interventions performed other than the administration of the two tests listed above.
Results: This study found that there was a significant overestimation of the development by Bayley-III compared to the BSID-II in children ages 6-42 months, indicating children as less severely delayed than they may actually be. Specifically, this study found that 48.6% of the cognitive delay portion of the assessment tool and 64.5% of the motor development portion of the assessment tool were classified as less severely delayed than compared to its former, BSID-II. This study found higher score differences for each individual section of the assessment tool in the Bayley-III than the BSID-II compared to other studies. This was thought to be attributed to the larger number of participants that includes larger variety of diseases and developmental delays as well as the inclusion of healthy children in this study compared to others.
Strengths: The strengths of this study include a large sample size including both healthy and a large variety of children with varying developmental delays. This could lead to more accurate results and greater generalizability within the appropriate clinical populations.
Limitations: Since both tests are performed in the same session, there could be influence or sense of familiarity from the first assessment tool onto the second that could affect the second tests scores. A couple of the tables were also difficult to understand while it may be less challenging to make an interpretation of the results if it were displayed in bar graph.
Conclusion: Cut-off scores specifically for Bayley-III are yet to be agreed upon and widely used but there is a need for a change in cut off scores between the Bayley-III and the BSID-II for congruency. Interpret results carefully for all age groups as underestimating developmental delays could lead to delayed treatment and further impairments in the future that may have been prevented otherwise.
2 responses to “Bayley Scales of Infant Motor Development (BSID-II) Article Summary”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I agree that there is a need for a change in cut off scores. I find this interesting and valid due to the large population size and variation of development delays, including healthy children. If they are so widely used it would be great that they are changed and normalized earlier rather than later. More research will need to be done with large sample sizes and variations in order to do this. Great job Abby!
Yes I agree! It will definitely be interesting to see what further research will bring and if they come to a conclusion on new cutoff scores for this test.