How ASQ Was Developed

	ASQ's development is the result of careful and thorough research and response to the need for a cost-effective, highly accurate tool for screening young children. A complete history of the development of ASQ and ASQ:SE appears in each tool's users' guide.

• Researchers at the University of Oregon, led by Dr. Diane Bricker, recognized the need for economical, valid, and culturally sensitive screening tools to identify young children who might be at risk for developmental delays
• A landmark study on parents’ ability to report on their infant’s development (Knobloch, 1979) suggested that parent-completed reports might offer a viable option for low-cost, accurate screening tools
• Researchers including Dr. Bricker and Dr. Jane Squires conducted an extensive review of standardized child development assessments and related literature, and selected a set of skills easily observed or elicited by parents and highly likely to occur in a home setting
• The researchers created a series of questionnaires, each specifically crafted for a different stage of development, that asked parents simple questions about their child’s observable behaviors
• In response to validity and utility data gathered on the questionnaires and feedback from project staff, interventionists, parents, nurses, and pediatricians, the questionnaires were refined and reworded, and additional age intervals added
• In 1995, the questionnaires were first published commercially by Brookes Publishing as the Ages & Stages Questionnaires® (ASQ): A Parent-Completed, Child-Monitoring System
• Responding to increased demand for a tool to screen for social-emotional delays or concerns in young children, the development of a companion tool to ASQ was initiated in 1995
• In 1997, with the passage of the amendments to the Individual with Disabilities Act (IDEA), came a call for early detection of social or emotional problems in young children
• In 1999, a revised and expanded edition of ASQ was published based on continuing research and user feedback
• In 2002, the companion to ASQ, the Ages & Stages Questionnaires®: Social-Emotional (ASQ:SE): A Parent-Completed, Child-Monitoring System for Social-Emotional Behaviors, was first published commercially by Brookes Publishing
• Research on both ASQ and ASQ:SE continue to ensure ever greater validity, reliability, and utility of the tools