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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Increase the proportion of children who receive a developmental screening — MICH‑17 Data Methodology and Measurement

On this page:  About the National Data  |  Methodology  |  History

About the National Data

Data

Data Source:  National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH), HRSA/MCHB

Baseline: 31.1 percent of children aged 9 through 35 months were screened for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental delays in the past 12 months, as reported in 2016-17

Target: 35.8 percent

Numerator
Number of children aged 9 through 35 months who have completed a developmental screening.
Denominator
Number of children aged 9 through 35 months.
Target-setting method
Percentage point improvement
Target-setting method details
Percentage point improvement from the baseline using Cohen's h effect size of 0.10.
1
Target-setting method justification
Trend data were not available for this objective. A percentage point improvement was calculated using Cohen's h effect size of 0.1. This method was used because it was a statistically significant improvement from the baseline.

Methodology

Questions used to obtain the national baseline data

(For additional information, please visit the data source page linked above.)

From the 2016 through 2017 National Survey of Children's Health:

Numerator:
DURING THE PAST 12 MONTHS, did a doctor or other health care provider have you or another caregiver fill out a questionnaire about specific concerns or observations you may have about (fill with SC_NAME)'s development, communication, or social behaviors?
Sometimes a child's doctor or other health care provider will ask a parent to do this at home or during a child's visit.
  1. Yes
  2. No

If yes, and this child is 9-23 months:

Did this questionnaire ask about your concerns or observations about: Mark ALL that apply.
  1. How this child talks or makes speech sounds?
  2. How this child interacts with you and others?

If yes, and this child is 2-5 years:

Did the questionnaire ask about your concerns or observations about: Mark ALL that apply.
  1. Words and phrases this child uses and understands?
  2. How this child behaves and gets along with you and others?

Methodology notes

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is defined as a constellation of behaviors indicating social, communicative, and behavioral impairment or abnormalities. The essential features of ASD are (a) impaired reciprocal social interactions, (b) delayed or unusual communication styles, and (c) restricted or repetitive behavior patterns.

History

Comparable HP2020 objective
Modified, which includes core objectives that are continuing from Healthy People 2020 but underwent a change in measurement.
Changes between HP2020 and HP2030
This objective differs from Healthy People 2020 objective MICH-29.1 in that objective MICH-29.1 tracked children aged 10 to 35 months who had been screened for developmental delays, while this objective tracks children aged 9 to 35 months who have received developmental screening.

1. Effect size h=0.1 was chosen to correspond with 10% improvement from a baseline of 50%.