Filling in the 2 year ASQ form for Health Visitor

[wishIwasonholiday10]

Looking for advice about how to fill out the Health Visitor form for our 2 year checkup (actually 28 months).

I have been trying several of the activities but being a 2 year old she just doesn’t want to do some of the activities. I’m not sure if she could do them if she tried. Do I just answer not yet in these cases? In some cases she can do something similar eg she doesn’t want to stack 7 blocks but she can connect duplo.

You'll have the opportunity to talk each one through with a health visitor at the 2 year visit, so if you're not sure, make a note to discuss. It can be so hard to get them to do the things on the questionnaire - they're so specific sometimes but also very random things. Just keep trying them when you feel like she's in the right frame of mind.

Don't stress too much about it though, it's just a guideline to see how children are doing and if there are any areas to keep an eye on 😊

Just answer it truthfully. It’s just an exercise to stimulate discussion in the assessment. Basically, what they care about is anything you are genuinely worried about, not she was tired that day so had no interest in drawing a circle or stacking cups.

I declined health visitor appointments long before this stage and said I would get in touch if I had any concerns. I wouldn't worry about any of it unless you feel there are glaring concerns.

I found this far more helpful than the health visitor's tick lists.

www.aaastateofplay.com/a-childs-new-skills-by-age/

As the others have said, just answer truthfully. You discuss each question with the HV anyway. If it would help, make a note about it on the questionnaire, or just leave it blank. If the HV thinks the mark warrants changing, they will change it.

When it came to the stacking 7 items question, the truth is that my son would have knocked over the stack for fun long before it got to 7. So I told them that. We discussed that it's likely he could if he really wanted to. He just enjoys the knocking down part too much because he's a toddler.

If you're not sure leave it blank and the HV will ask you and decide whether to score it or not. It's not like the exact score really means anything - they are looking for anything that might need extra support, so score is a general indication, nothing more.

Stacking 7 blocks is about how exactly they can position them, so duplo wouldn't really count as it doesn't get harder as you add more if you are what I mean.

Don't worry. LOTS of 2 year olds are uncooperative! Health visitors are very used to this. Toddlers are not robots or performing monkeys.

Give your DC a couple of opportunities to do it, and then if they haven't done it just mark "not yet".

The most important thing is have YOU noticed any areas where they are not developing typically? Any concerns or questions? The discussion is more important to you than the score.

Thanks all for the advice!

I already know she is massively behind in one area (gross motor) for which we are already getting help but I’m not really sure about other areas. I don’t have major concerns but she’s my first and I’m not around enough kids her age to know what’s normal or not. Nursery also haven’t expressed any concerns so I hope they would have noticed if she has delays in other areas.

She was marked grey or black in most areas at the one year review but that was partly because she was teething and super grumpy in the two weeks leading up to the appointment and didn’t want to try any of the activities.

We just had ours and HV had actually set up some activities for DD2 to do: a puzzle putting the right shaped animal into the space, blocks to build a tower and threading blocks onto a piece of string. DD2 was actually quite keen to play with the toys and apparently did what she was meant to! So that might be the case at yours too.

It's not meant to be like a test. You don't have to sit your child down and get them to do the activities in order to tick them off. You just answer based on your own observations of day to day life. A child teething in the week before filling out the form should have no relevance.

Thinking back to age 2, I wouldn't have sat my son down and got him to stack 7 blocks. I'd have just answered based on having seen him play every day: is he capable of the dexterity required to do that? Yes. You don't sit with them and get them to actually do it.

Honestly, they should be clearer to parents that it's a rough guide.