How PEDS Works
Parents' Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS) is designed to elicit and address parents' concerns about their child's development and health. Parents' concerns are as accurate as hands-on, milestones-type tools--but only if we ask well and know how to interpret parents' comments.
Parents are asked to answer ten questions on the PEDS Response Form. The questions elicit parents' perspectives on their child for each developmental domain including health issues such as sleeping and eating, vision, and hearing. Across the age range of PEDS, birth to age 8, the same 10 questions are used. A new Response Form is needed at each encounter.
PEDS Brief Administration and Scoring Guide is needed to score the PEDS Response Form. This 8 page booklet explains how to give the measure, what to expect from its use, covers second stage screening measures, parent education resources, and highlights research on the instrument. Note: It is not possible to correctly administer PEDS without referring frequently to the Brief Guide. Make sure you have a copy available whenever you administer PEDS. The PEDS Brief Guide explains how to use the longitudinal PEDS Score Form in order to categorize parents' concerns into various developmental domains.
The PEDS Score Form has columns for each age range and is organized by the usual well-visit schedule (columns can be reused if children are seen multiple times between age-ranges). The PEDS Score Form identifies which concerns predict problems and which do not.To make evidence-based decisions about concerns, the PEDS Score Form directs you to one of five evidence-based decisions about what to do with results.
On the back of the PEDS Score Form is the PEDS Interpretation Form which houses an algorithm for deciding whether to refer, screen further, watch carefully, counsel parents, or simply reassure them. The space on the right-hand side of the PEDS Interpretation Form is for recording and tracking these decisions and action steps.
PEDS and PEDS:DM are available online at pedstestonline.com via our PEDS Online service. PEDS Online offers instant, automated (error-free!) scoring, generates referral letters, parent summary reports, and diagnostic/procedure codes. There is a free trial available at: www.pedstestonline.com/trial.
The PEDS Tool can be licensed in 60+ languages outside of those that we print (English & Spanish). Read more about our translations on our Translations page.