Abstract
A pilot examination of interscorer reliability was conducted to assess consistent practice among examiners administering and scoring the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-Second Edition (BSID-II). This study reports the percentage of agreement obtained by 10 highly trained examiners scoring videotaped administrations of 29 children aged 12 to 39 months who completed the BSID-II Mental Scale. Mental Developmental Index (MDI) scores were initially analyzed for overall agreement followed by item analysis to identify specific discrepancies. Sixty items (107 to 166), each administered to seven or more children, were included in the analysis. Agreement was generally high (90% or above consensus); however, 23% of the items were below 90%. Although replication with a larger sample size is necessary, our clinical experience suggests that the variability for those items is not due to chance and can be reduced. Recommendations to reduce potential variability for those items are provided. This information has implications for practitioners and researchers and for training new examiners.
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