MINNESOTA CHILD-DEVELOPMENT INVENTORY - A NORMATIVE STUDY

New norms for the Minnesota Child Development Inventory (MCDI) are presented. The present study focussed on children ranging in age from 1 to 4 years, considered by many to be the most crucial period for conducting developmental screening. The final sample (N = 1,322) was three times larger than the original MCDI sample for the same ages (1 - 4 yrs), and represented a broader range of demographics. No relationship was found between medical history and SES, and MCDI scores. As an alternative to the percentage cut-off method of determining developmental status, the larger sample allowed the calculation of means and standard deviations for each age. T-scores may be derived from this information. The new normative sample was found to fit the theoretical normal curve remarkably well. Illustrative case reviews consistently demonstrated that the use of the SD versus percentage cut-off method yielded different developmental profiles. The new norms represent a substantially larger, more demographically diverse sample, from which a more standardized psychometric description of performance may improve use of the MCDI in developmental assessment.