What is Parents’ Evaluation of Developmental Status- Revised (PEDS-R®)?
PEDS-R® is a developmental screening tool to help practitioners
check on your child’s development by learning from any concerns that you might
have. You will complete a short, 12-item questionnaire that addresses your
child’s development and wellbeing.
The PEDS-R® developmental screening tool includes questions about
your child’s:
- speech and language
- how your child gets along with others
- learning for school (babies learn from the moment they are born,
and it is important to support parents to help children reach their full
potential)
- what your child can do for themselves
- social, emotional and behaviour
- how your child uses their hands, fingers, arms and legs
- health, and
- how you think your child is going overall.
The practitioner will then discuss any concerns that you have and
complete the scoring and interpretation of PEDS-R®.
“Bringing parents’ voices to
the table is so important; they are the experts of their children. The beauty
about the PEDS-R® is that it’s really a set of questions that is scaffolding
for parents to think about how to talk about their children and their
concerns”. Professor Sharon Goldfeld AM
Completing PEDS-R® supports you to talk about any questions or
concerns that you may have regarding your child’s health, development or
wellbeing. This helps the practitioner to provide you with information or
interventions related to your concerns, perform further assessment of your
child, and/or make appropriate referrals if needed.
You may need to complete the PEDS-R® questionnaire on a regular
basis as part of your appointments or visits with health, early childhood or
education practitioners. PEDS-R® may be part of a screening process that is
used with children (under eight years) in your community. Ongoing assessment of
your child’s health and development helps both you and the practitioner to
monitor any changes and, if necessary, act early.
Why do we need to check children’s development?
The first few years of life are a time of significant and rapid
development. The strong influence of early experiences on the growing baby and
child makes these early years of life a period of great opportunity and great
vulnerability. If developmental concerns or delay can be identified in these
early years, there is evidence that acting early can make a significant
difference to improving long-term outcomes for children.
Where can you get more information?
If you would like to learn more about child development and behaviour please visit these trusted parenting and child health websites: