Ages & Stages Questionnaire

Title of Assessment 

• Ages & Stages Questionnaire (ASQ-3)

Author(s) 

•  Jane Squires

• Elizabeth Twombly

• Diana Bricker

• La Wanda Potter

Year of Publication/Publisher 

•  2009

• Paul H Brooks Publishing Co.

Identify Type of Assessment 

•  norm-referenced

• standardized

Cost (identify source) & How to Access Assessment (include link if possible) 

•  ASQ-3 starter kit in English is $295.00

• Materials Kit is $295.00

• ASQ®-3 Starter Kit (brookespublishing.com) 

Population (who it is appropriate for [age, diagnosis, etc.])  

• 1 month to 5 1/2 years old 

• this can be used for any diagnoses or typically developing child

Appropriate Settings (potential practice settings appropriate to administer assessment in) 

•  home health

• school-based

• early intervention (EI)

• Inpatient/Outpatient OT

• Primary Care

Purpose of Assessment & Function(s)/Area(s) Assessed  

•   The purpose of the ASQ-3 is an assessment designed to be easy and convenient for parents, caregivers, and professionals to screen a child for developmental delays or concerns. Each questionnaire involves 30 questions looking at the following 5 domains of development:

  • • communication

    • gross motor

    • fine motor

    • problem-solving

    • personal-social

Administration (time to administer, group/individual, if there are subtests, can they be completed individually, are there specific instructions to ensure standardization, etc.) 

• 10-15 minutes for parents to complete

• 2-3 minutes for professionals to score 

• Can be completed by a parent or caregiver with minimal training, but a professional must be involved in the training or scoring.

User Qualifications  

• minimal training of reading the manual and communication with a professional required for administers

Materials Required  

• writing utensil

• questionnaires

• manual

• Baby bottle (clear)

• Ball: large (with hand pump to inflate; ball may be stored deflated when not being used)

• Ball: small

• Beads: small, to string (10 included)

• Book: wordless picture book

• Book: storybook with pictures

• Blocks: small (15 included)

• Bowl

• Coloring book (with tear-out pages)

• Crayons: two sizes (one 4-pack of small; one 3-pack of chunky)

• Cup

• Fork (child size)

• Jars: clear plastic with screw lid, one short and one tall (short one may be used for “jar with screw lid” or “wind-up toy”; tall one may be used for “clear bottle” if baby bottle is not used)

• Mirror

• Puzzle (5–7-piece, interlocking)

• Scissors (child-safe)

• Shoelace (may be used for “string”)

• Spoon (child size) (may be used for “stick”)

• Stuffed doll or animal with buttons and zipper (may be used for “doll”)

• Toy: keys on a ring (may be used for “small toy” or “rattle”)

• Toy: small, easy to grasp

• Container for organizing the kit’s small items

• Booklet on how to use the kit

• Laminated list of kit items

Scoring Procedure (how is assessment scored and what does score indicate)  

• The administrator will respond in 3 different ways to the questionnaire: yes, sometimes, and not yet. These are given points of 10, 5, and 0 which are then totaled in the 5 areas of development. The final scores can be compared to those in the manual score sections. In the score tables, the white area means appropriate development, light grey means they require close attention, and the scores in the dark-shaded area mean further diagnostic is recommended. 

Psychometrics/Standardization (norms, reliability/validity studies) 

• test/retest reliability

  • Problem Solving - Excellent: (ICC= .80)

  • Communication - Excellent: (ICC= .92)

  • Fine Motor - Poor: (ICC= .37)

  • Gross Motor - Excellent: (ICC= .90)

  • Personal-Social - Excellent: (ICC= .73)

• interrater/intrarater reliability

  • excellent .93

• criterion validity

  • concurrent validity shows high specificity (85.6) and high sensitivity (86.1)

Strengths & Weaknesses of Assessment  

•    strengths

  • available in English, Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, French and Vietnamese

  • quick to administer and score

  • Helps teach parents about their children's developmental skills

•  weaknesses

  •  costly 

  • Can be confusing to administer or score if administers are unfamiliar with it

References 

• Ages and stages questionnaires. Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. (n.d.-a). https://www.sralab.org/rehabilitation-measures/ages-and-stages-questionnaires

• Squires, J. (2009). ASQ-3 user’s guide. Paul H. Brookes Pub.