<P> According to a study commissioned by the Public Health Agency of Canada, the DDST is the most widely used test for screening developmental problems in children . While this study acknowledges the test's utility for detecting severe developmental problems, the test has been criticized to be unreliable in predicting less severe or specific problems . The same criticism has been upheld for the currently marketed revised version of the Denver Scale, the DENVER II . Frankenburg has replied to such criticism by pointing out that the Denver Scale is not a tool of final diagnosis, but a quick method to process large numbers of children in order to identify those that should be further evaluated . </P> <P> This revised definition of the Denver's function remains commensurate with what screening tests are designed to do: sort those who probably have problems from those who probably don't . Thus standards for screening test construction still apply to the Denver . Although the instrument has proven reliability, it was not constructed on a large, current, nationally representative sample . It has not been studied for validity (given alongside diagnostic measures to view their relationship or researched for the kinds of problems it may or may not detect). As a consequence, the measure was not studied by its authors for the most critical attribute of any screen, its accuracy . Studies by other researchers showed it to detect only about 50% of children with disabilities, although its specificity in identifying normally developing children is high (when questionables are grouped with normal scores) and the converse when questionable scores are grouped with abnormal results . Since 1991, researchers have appealed to the author to recall and improve the measure but to no avail . Currently the measure is excluded from lists of recommended tools in several states (e.g., Minnesota Department of Education . For a list of accurate alternatives see The website of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Section on Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics </P> <P> The DENVER II (1992) is a revision and update of the Denver Developmental Screening Test, DDST (1967). Both were designed for use by the clinician, teacher, or other early childhood professional to monitor the development of infants and preschool - aged children . Doing so, enables the clinician to identify children whose development deviates significantly from that of other children warranting further investigation to determine if there exists a problem requiring treatment . The tests cover four general functions: personal social (such as smiling), fine motor adaptive (such as grasping and drawing), language (such as combining words), and gross motor (such as walking). Ages covered by the tests range from birth to six years . Since its publication the test has enjoyed widespread popularity as reflected by its use in many of this nation's medical schools . </P> <P> The DENVER II, published in 1992, was standardized on 2,096 children . Its interpretation was slightly modified from the DDST giving greater emphasis to a comparison of the child's performance on each item with the new norms, much as clinicians have compared children's growth on individual parameters as height, weight and head circumference to ascertain a child's health status . </P>

What is the denver ii developmental screening test