Predictive Validity of the Battelle Developmental Inventory as a Measure of Social-Behavioral Development for Young Children with Disabilities

Abstract

Although the Battelle Developmental Inventory (BDI) has become a widely-used assessment tool for evaluating the developmental skills of young children, little is known about this instrument in terms of its value as a measure of social-behavioral development and a predictor of later developmental outcomes. In this investigation, both of these aspects of the BDI were explored. Subjects were 121 young children with disabilities who participated in a longitudinal early intervention study. The BDI was administered to each subject upon their entry into the study, when they ranged in age from two-to five-years old. The subjects were rated by their parents with the Social Skills Rating System at a two- to three-year interval of time after their entry into the study, when they ranged in age from five-to eight-years old. Correlations between the two measures at two points in time found very weak to modest relationships between the BDI and SSRS. The most significant correlations were found between the BDI Personal-Social, Adaptive, and Communication domains, and the SSRS Social Skills subscales (particularly Assertion and Responsibility). The results provided limited support for the BDI as a predictive measure of future social-behavioral development.

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