a high score on the bayley mental scale
Bayley Scales of Infant Development The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development–Third Edition (Bayley-III) is a revision of the frequently used and well-known Bayley Scales of Infant Development–Second Edition (BSID-II; Bayley, 1993).[2] Like its prior editions, the Bayley-III is an individually administered instrument designed to measure the developmental functioning of infants and toddlers.[2] Other specific purposes of the Bayley-III are to identify possible developmental delay, inform professionals about specific areas of strength or weakness when planning a comprehensive intervention, and provide a method of monitoring a child’s developmental progress. [2] The most significant revision to the Bayley-III is the development of five distinct scales (as compared to three scales in the BSID-II) to be consistent with areas of appropriate developmental assessment for children from birth to age 3.[2] Whereas the BSID-II provided Mental, Motor, and Behavior scales, the Bayley-III revision includes Cognitive, Language, Motor, Social-Emotional, and Adaptive Behavior scales.[2] Considering that the primary intent of the Bayley-III is to identify children experiencing developmental delay and not to specifically diagnose a disorder, the floor and ceiling of the subtest and total test appear to be adequate.[2] As would be expected from an adaptive behavior measure (i.e., ABAS-II) that was developed independently of the Bayley-III, the floor for the Adaptive Behavior scale extends downward to a composite score of 40 (extending upwards to a score of 160), whereas the remaining Bayley-III floor composite scores are relatively higher (Cognitive, 55-145; Language, 47-153; Motor, 46-154; Social-Emotional, 55-145).[2] One area that was not improved, however, are the subtest floor scores for the youngest children in the sample (i.e., those aged 16 to 25 days).[2] Likewise, when a 2011 study was conducted comparing the relationship between test scores using the second and third editions of the Bayley Scales in extremely preterm children, it was concluded that interpreting these scores should be done with caution as the correlation with the previous edition appears worse at lower test score values.[9]