Speaker
Description
This project investigates whether caregivers’ use of a development diary app (Pebbles App; https://www.pebbles-app.com) influences the development of their children. This influence could be evident by changes of the age at which developmental milestones are attained (Age of Attainment; AoA). The Pebbles App collects data on the timing of developmental milestones by asking caregivers if their child already achieved certain abilities and, if yes, how long ago. Here, we present one potential method to calculate a general developmental score from the AoAs. A normative distribution for each milestone is created by bootstrapping AoA data of all the children already documented by the app. These normative distributions are then used to z-standardise the AoAs, with a child's general developmental score being their average z-score. This score estimates the extent to which the child tends to reach milestones at an earlier, average or later point in time when compared to all the other children that have been documented by the app. A reliable development score based on the AoAs of milestones would allow the comparison between different children documented by the Pebbles App. Generally, the study's findings may elucidate Pebbles App’s potential as an intervention tool, extending beyond its primary function as a developmental diary app. Furthermore, it could offer insights into the creation of analogous applications and illuminate the underlying mechanisms relevant to child development.
