Comparison of normative data from the original “Ages and Stages Questionnaires” and adapted for public daycare centers in Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

The Rio de Janeiro municipality Education Secretary applied in 2010, 2011, and 2012 the Portuguese-BR version (ASQ3-BR) of the Ages & Stages Questionnaire, Third Edition, in 468 public kindergartens to assess the development of 109,758 children aged 10 to 54 months. This endeavour was carried out to get information about the development of Communication, Gross Motor Coordination, Fine Motor Coordination, Problem Solving, and Personal-Social. The results were analysed, identifying the instrument’s norms to its interpretation, as well as the respective cut-offs considering two standard deviations below the mean. In addition, the 5% and 10% percentiles based on the obtained scores were calculated. Also, the results were compared with normative values established by the original instrument to confirm its psychometric characteristics and to identify differences in the obtained data. It was observed that the results obtained in Rio de Janeiro’s public daycare centers, although they started with results lower than those observed by the author of the instrument in the United States, after the age of 36 months, and with 24 months of living with other children, the results are matched with the American results, from which it can be concluded that the stimulation by living in daycare centers is effective for the psychomotor development of the children attended.