What is the purpose of the ASQ in early childhood development?

• A. Developmental screening to identify potential delays
• B. Diagnostic medical tests for disease
• C. Assessing parental employment
• D. Measuring physical strength only

Answer: (A)

The ASQ is a screening tool that helps identify whether a young child may have developmental delays by gathering information from parents about the child’s skills across several areas—communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem solving, and personal-social. It’s designed to flag children who might benefit from a more thorough evaluation, not to diagnose a condition. This makes it different from diagnostic medical tests, which confirm specific problems, and it isn’t used to assess things like parental employment or measure physical strength alone. In practice, caregivers answer simple questions about what their child can do, and the results indicate if follow-up assessment is needed or if development appears typical.