Development of a Battery to Assess Perceptual-Motor, Cognition, Language, and Scholastic Skills among Bengali Children with Neuro Developmental Disorders

BACKGROUND: School failure or poor academic performance is often found in neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD); however, there is a dearth of a comprehensive assessment tool to evaluate various underlying deficits, including perceptual-motor, cognitive, language, and scholastic skills of those who have NDD. The study aimed to develop a test to fill-up this gap. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study followed three phases: the construction of an assessment battery in both Bengali and English languages, separately, incorporating tasks on perceptual-motor, cognitive, language, and scholastic skills; doing a pilot study, and finally, standardization. Standardization was done on 91 normal children (NC) aged 4.5 to 9.5 years, from four districts of West Bengal. The test was applied to 57 children with poor school performance across various NDD, including specific learning disorder, autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and communication disorder. Binet Kamat Test (BKT) of intelligence, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS) Index for specific learning disability (SLD), Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), Conner's Abbreviated Rating Scale- Parent Report, Linguistic Profile Test, and Test of Pragmatic Language were used as screening tools to identify children with various NDD. The psychometric properties of the tool were assessed. RESULTS: The factor analysis suggested four-factor solution named scholastic–cognitive–motor, attention, auditory–verbal, and perceptual skill. The internal consistency of the test was found to be higher (Cronbach's α >0.70 for most tests), indicating high reliability. Discriminant validity revealed significant score differences between NC and children with NDD (P <.01), suggesting that the new tool can differentiate children with NDD from healthy NC. CONCLUSION: The results favor the new tool as a psychometrically strong tool to assess the scholastic backwardness of children with NDD. It may be further used to create specific profiles for different categories of NDD.