Resumo

HERNANDEZ, Hansel Soto et al. Child development assessment scales for children aged 6-18 months: a systematic review. Neuropsicologia Latinoamericana [online]. 2023, vol.15, n.3, pp.13-29.  Epub 21-Nov-2025. ISSN 2075-9479.  https://doi.org/10.5579/rnl.2023.0834.

Child development assessment scales for children under 2 years of age are a crucial resource for assessing developmental milestones in this population. In countries such as the United States there is a wide range of scales or screening instruments for monitoring development during the first 5 years of life, but the reality in Latin American countries is quite different. Assessing child development is a complex task, as it implies a multidisciplinary approach and a multidimensional analysis that generally encompasses the following dimensions: motor, cognitive, affective and social. The aim of the present systematic review was to describe the structure of child development assessment scales for children aged 6-18 months available in Spanish, Portuguese and English, as well as to provide additional information on translation studies and cultural validation of the English instruments for the Latin American region. The search was carried out in the VHL, PubMed, SCOPUS, Web of Science, SciELO and Redalyc, as well as employing additional strategies such as consulting the websites of publishers such as Vetor, Pearson, Hogrefe and TEA. The MeSH descriptors used were: “Neuropsychological tests” AND “Survey and questionnaires” AND “Child development” AND “Infant”. A total of 156 potentially relevant studies were retrieved and, from these, 18 instruments were selected that met the eligibility criteria. The prevalence of scales or screening instruments in English is confirmed and studies of translation, cultural validation and design of new instruments for the Latin American region are under development. From a critical approach, the advantages and disadvantages of the use of scales for the diagnosis of child development from the earliest ages are analyzed. It is concluded that the knowledge of a list of screening instruments in English, Portuguese and Spanish is relevant information for the work of professionals who face the demand of monitoring child development from the prelinguistic stage for clinical and research purposes.

Palavras-chave : child development; early diagnosis; diagnostic screening programs; psychomotor performance; child.

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