The Indicators of Psychosocial Development in Thailand

Abstract

A battery of 119 items for psychosocial development screening testing of preschool children in Thailand was assembled. Appropriateness to Thai culture and suitability for use in the home and community by parents and primary health care workers were the chief criteria in selecting the test items. The battery consisted of 22 items for testing gross motor development; 17 items for fine motor development; 30 items for hearing, language, and concept development; 29 items for self-help skill development; and 21 items for social skill development. Between April 1987 and January 1988, the battery was administered to a sample of 5, 424 children up to the age of six years in rural and urban areas in the four geographical regions of Thailand. At the same time, information on the children and their families was recorded. The development data were processed with the Grandstat package program to obtain curves showing the percentages of the children not passing the items at different ages. The development curves and bar charts showing the ages at which certain percentiles of the children were unable to pass each developmental test item are presented together with information on the children and their families incorporating the findings of this study.

Keywords

Children Development Thailand.

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