METRO MANILA DEVELOPMENT SCREENING TEST

Overview
 Screening is a presumptive identification of unrecognized disease or defect
 Early detection model
 Test children with problem
 Facilitates early referral and treatment
 Detection of developmental disabilities
 Children 6 ½ years and below
WHAT IS MMDST FOR?
 Simple and clinically useful tool
 To determine early serious developmental delays
 Dr. William K. Frankenburg
 Modified and standardized by Dr. Phoebe D. Williams DDST to MMDST
 Developed for health professionals (MDs, RNs, etc)
 It is not an intelligence test
 It is a screening instrument to determine if child’s development is with in normal
Purposes
 Measures developmental delays
 Evaluates 4 aspects of development
Aspects of development
 Personal-social
 Fine-motor adaptive
 Language
 Gross motor behavior
MMDST Kit
1. Manual
2. Sample test form
3. Test materials
4. MMDST bag
Test materials
 A bright red yarn pom-pom
 A rattle with narrow handle
 Eight 1-inch colored wooden blocks (red, yellow, blue green)
 A small clear glass/bottle with 5/8-inch opening
 A small bell with 2 ½ inch-diameter mouth
  A rubber ball 12 ½ inches in circumference
 Cheese curls
 A pencil
Important considerations
 Child’s age is crucial= initial step in test administration
 Test items will be dependent on age of child
 Age = guide the selection of test items and subsequent interpretation of results
Scoring the Test
 Passed
 Failed
 Refused, or
 No opportunity
 Failure of an item that is completely to the left of the child’s age is considered a
developmental delay
The Test Form
 Made of 105 items written in the range of development of children between birth and six
years of age
Four Sectors
 Personal-Social - tasks which indicate the child’s ability to get along with people and to
take care of himself
 Fine-Motor Adaptive – tasks which indicate the child’s ability to see and use his hands to
pick up objects and to draw
 Language – tasks which indicate the child’s ability to hear, follow directions and to
speak; and
 Gross-Motor – tasks which indicate the child’s ability to sit, walk and jump
Test Directions
1. Try to get the child to smile by smiling, talking or waving to him. Do not touch him.
2. When the child is playing with toy, pull it away from him. Pass if he resists.
3. Child does not have to be able to tie shoes or button in the back
4. Move yarn slowly in an arch from one side to the other, about 6” above child’s face. Pass
if the eyes follow 90° to midline. (past midline; 180°)
5. Pass if the child grasps rattle when it is touched to the backs or tips of fingers
6. Pass if the child continues to look where yarn disappeared or tries to see where it went.
Yarn should be dropped quickly from sight from tester’s hand without arm movement
7. Pass if the child picks up cheese curl with any part of the thumb and finger
8. Pass if child picks up cheese curl with the ends of thumb and index finger using an over
hand approach
 9. Pass any enclosed form. Fail continuous round motion.
10. Which line is longer (not bigger). Turn the paper upside down and repeat (3/3 or 5/6)
11. Pass any crossing line
12. Have child copy first. If failed, demonstrate
13. Note: When giving items 9, 11 and 12, do not name the forms. Do not demonstrate 9 and
11.
14. When scoring, each pair (2 arms, 2 legs, etc) counts as one part
15. Point to picture and have the child name it. (No credit is given for sounds only)
16. Tell the child to: give block to mommy; put block on table; put block on floor. Pass 2 of
3. (Do not help child by pointing, moving head or eyes.)
17. Ask child: What do you do when you are cold? Hungry? Tired? Pass 2of 3 Tell child to:
Put block on table; under table; in front of chair, behind chair. Pass 3 of 4. (Do not help
child by pointing, moving head or eyes.)
18. Ask child: If fire is hot, ice is? Mother is a woman, Dad is a? a horse is big, a mouse is ?
Pass 2 of 3.
19. Ask child: What is a ball? River? Desk? House? Banana? Curtain? Roof? Fence? Street?
Pass if defined in terms of use, shape, what is it made of or its general category (such as
banana is a fruit, not just yellow). Pass 6 of 9.
20. Ask child: What is a spoon made of? A shoe made of? A door made of? (no other objects
can be substituted.) Pass 3 of 3.
21. When placed on stomach, child lifts chest off table with support of forearms and/or
hands.
22. While child is on back, grasp his hands and pull him to sitting. Pass if head does not hang
back
23. Child may use wall or rail only, not person. May not crawl.
24. Child must throw ball overhead 3 feet to within arm’s reach of tester
25. Child must perform standing broad jumps over width of test sheet (8½ inches)
26. Tell child to walk forward, heel within 1 inch of toe. Tester may demonstrate. Child must
walk 4 consecutive steps, 2 out of 3 trials.
27. Bounce ball to child who should stand 3 feet away from tester. Child must catch ball with
hands, not arms, 2 out of 3 trials.
28. Tell child to walk backward toe within 1 inch of heel. Tester may demonstrate. Child
must walk 4 consecutive steps, 2 out of 3 trials. Date and Behavioral Observations How
child feels at time of test, relations to tester, attention span, verbal behavior, self-
confidence, etc)
The Test Form
 Across the top and bottom of form are age scales
 Age is marked in months 1-24, and age in years from 2 ½ to 6.
 Each item is represented in the test form by a bar
 The bar is placed along the age scale to show when 25%, 50%(indicated by the hatch
mark) 75% and 90% of the normal children are able to pass the item
The Test Procedure
 Start with Personal-social sector
 Gives child chance to get used to tester
 Gives tester chance ask parents which can be scored based on report and can also directly
observe it
 Fine motor-adaptive sector follows
 Child can perform tasks even without having to directly talk to tester
 Filipino child…..warming up
 Third is, language sector
 This time child is more comfortable with you (tester).
 Will talk as much to you
 Lastly, gross-motor sector
 Many children are too shy at the beginning of the test

Reference:
RNPedia. (2020). Metro Manila Developmental Screening Test (MMDST). Retrieved from
https://www.rnpedia.com/nursing-notes/fundamentals-in-nursing-notes/metro-manila-
development-screening-test-mmdst/

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