Concurrent Validity of the Griffiths' Mental Development Scales with a Population of Children Under 24 Months

Abstract

The Griffiths' Mental Development Scales have been recommended for use in diagnostic assessment with infants and toddlers with special needs. The Griffiths' scales are British in origin, were developed in 1950, and cover five areas of infant development. This study compared results of Griffiths assessments with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development and the Battelle Developmental Inventory for a population of 30 children under 24 months of age. All children had been referred to an early intervention program. While the Griffiths correlated well with the two comparison measures, age equivalents obtained on the Griffiths were considerably higher than those obtained from the Bayley and the Battelle. The authors suggest that the Griffiths be restandardized on an American population of infants to increase its usefulness as a diagnostic instrument for early intervention programs.

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