Convergence of the Developmental Profile-4 Cognitive Scale and Wechsler IQ in Young Children

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Traditional standardized cognitive assessment requires lengthy face-to-face evaluations. The Developmental Profile, Fourth Edition (DP-4), is one of few caregiver-reported standardized measures of cognition. While existing data support the convergent validity between the DP-4 Cognitive scale and developmental tests used for very young children, similar data do not exist for traditional intelligence tests in preschool- and school-aged children. The goal of this study was to produce initial psychometric data relevant to clinical and research use of the DP-4 in preschool- to school-aged children. METHOD In this exploratory analysis from an observational longitudinal study of children with or without developmental disability, N = 46 children (n = 26 male) aged 3 to 7 years (mean ± SD = 5 years and 4 months ± 1 year and 2 months) were contemporaneously assessed with the DP-4 interview and the age-appropriate Wechsler form. Concordance was evaluated using mixed-effects models. Classification statistics were evaluated for cutoffs of standard scores at 70 and 85. RESULTS Mean scores on the DP-4 Cognitive (mean ± SD = 99.17 ± 18.24) and Wechsler FSIQ (mean ± SD = 100.76 ± 18.62) were in the average range. A concordance correlation coefficient of 0.75 (95% CI, 0.53–0.86) indicated acceptable agreement. Perfect accuracy was observed using a threshold of 70 on both instruments, but sensitivity of the DP-4 (67%) was lower for a threshold of 85. CONCLUSIONS These results support the convergent validity for research use of the DP-4 Cognitive Scale and provide initial support for the use of the DP-4 interview as a screening tool for developmental delay. However, more data from the clinical setting are needed.