For Pediatricians

Screening doesn't have to be overly time consuming. Simple strategies can be incorporated into office visits to help identify children at risk—much like routinely checking a child’s height and weight.

Pediatricians are the professionals most likely to see a child on a regular basis. You have the opportunity to play a crucial role in identifying children with developmental delays at a young age.

Most pediatricians use clinical judgment alone to identify potential developmental problems. But studies have shown that while clinical judgment is undoubtably valuable, when used alone, it detects fewer than 30% of children who have developmental disabilities.

		Reimbursement Questions? Pediatricians can be reimbursed for developmental screening. See this guidance on coding options from the Coding Institute.

When pediatricians complement their clinical judgment with the use of a standardized screening tool, they identify 70% to 80% of children with developmental disabilities. The percentage rises when screening is conducted at periodic intervals (rather than at a single point in time or only as problems are suspected).

AAP Recommendations

Given the critical role pediatricians can play in the early identification of children at risk, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends in its policy statement on screening that pediatricians and primary care providers:

• screen all infants and young children for developmental delays during preventive care visits
• present the results of the screening to the family using a culturally sensitive, family-centered approach
• maintain links with community-based resources, such as early intervention, school, and other programs, and coordinate care with them
• increase parents' awareness of developmental delays and disabilities and resources for intervention

Overcome Screening Barriers with Parent-Report Tools

Of the screening tools available, parent-report tools such as the Ages & Stages Questionnaires® (ASQ) are the most time- and cost-efficient—time and cost being the two biggest barriers pediatricians face when implementing screening.

Parents can complete the questionnaires at home or in the waiting room. And, scoring is quick and can be completed by someone who has little training. As a result, you can get the information you need about a child in advance of a visit.

Concerned about overidentifying children with delays? Though screening does result in occasional referrals of children later found not to qualitfy for services, most overreferrals are shown to be for children with below average development who would benefit from extra attention.