What is the Zelazo Information Processing Procedure™ ?

Of the 4,000,000 children born each year in the United States and Canada, between 10-20% or 400,000 to 800,000 children exhibit delayed mental development. The traditional approach taken with children who exhibit "slow walking or slow talking" is either that of "wait and see" as is usually done in the case of slow talking, or the child is referred for a comprehensive evaluation in the case of motor delay. Adopting the "wait and see" approach has an extremely high potential of creating additional difficulties for the already delayed child; untreated, expressive language delay is likely to continue at a time when peers develop expressive language at an exponential rate. Typically, assessments are deferred until the child is about three years old. The child will then be seen by either a neurologist or a psychologist, both of whom, will, in different ways attempt to infer intellectual or mental capabilities, based on motor skills.

The tools available to the psychologist are psychological tests such as the Bayley Scales of Mental Development, the Griffiths Developmental Scales, the Stanford-Binet, and the Fagan Infantest. The latter is particularly appropriate for infants under nine months of age, a time that precedes the onset of, let alone the identification of delayed speech. Nonetheless, the Fagan Infantest at least measures mental facility directly in a less broad manner than conventional tests of early development. The three former tests rely on measures of gross and fine motor ability, expressive language, and compliance with the requests of the examiner. The child receiving such an evaluation enters a "vicious circle". The very problems that these children experience, neuromotor delays, expressive language delays and behaviour problems, are the ones that confound, or confuse the validity of the tests. Failure to comply with the examiner's requests to perform items on the test will result in a depressed score simply confirming that the child's development is delayed a previously known fact. Not only is little new or useful knowledge gained, but the child is placed at greater risk because his or her known motor and language delays are used to establish delayed intelligence. Moreover the "official" labelling by the professional, be it neurologist, pediatrician or psychologist carries considerable weight with the outside world of teachers, therapists, and other medical professionals, tending tp lower expectations for the child's development. In addition, the parents must now cope with the official label, as well as their own doubts and frustrations; hope can be diminished easily.

What has been lacking is a test method which is relatively free of these biases and will be a good predictor of mental capabilities. The Zelazo Information Processing Procedure™, (Zelazo IPP™), in conjunction with Free Play & Parent-Children Interaction Sessions allows the psychologist to make a "differential diagnosis". A direct probe of the "central processing ability" allows the examiner to bypass the confoundings of the traditional tests and identify those children who have the potential to overcome their expressive delays.

The Zelazo IPP™ Laboratory enables the professional to assess the mental development of infants and children from 3 to 42 months. The methodology is based on the "STANDARD - TRANSFORMATION - RETURN" paradigm, an information processing approach. The (STR) procedure relies on the administration of various sequential dynamic stimuli, and measures mental encoding and comparison with existing mental representations by evaluating elicited responses. These sequences include various visual and auditory stimuli.


Monitoring and recording of instantaneous heart rate through an ECG monitor and behavioral responses such as durations of smiles, vocalization, eye movement, and measures of attention, give the required data.


The data are then computer analyzed and compared (scored) relative to clinical data from a "normal" population, as well as to the data from differentially abled children.

The speed with which a child forms mental representations of externally occurring events is a valid indicator of current "intelligence". The development of talking does not come easily to all children. Many factors can influence the acquisition of expressive language, including biological conditions such as cerebral palsy, or Down's Syndrome, and experiential factors such as behavioural difficulties. There is a sound body of evidence that indicates that developmentally delayed children do not catch up spontaneously. Children who do not acquire language, generally do not interact socially in a "normal" manner. They fall further and further behind their peers, and with the passing of time, the likelihood of catching up is further reduced. Even for those children with known biological conditions, such as cerebral palsy it is extremely helpful to be able to determine whether the child's level of mental development is delayed or normal.

An early differential diagnosis, which includes an accurate indication of mental ability independent of the degree of delayed expressive development, is critical for proper intervention at the appropriate time. Intervention that may be appropriate for an 8 month old will only be too simple for a child whose ability to process information is at the 24 month level, further compounding the problem. A differential diagnosis is an extremely important first step; appropriate practical treatment is the next. Treatment protocols have been developed and have been used extensively to benefit children with various diagnoses.

Some of the material is covered in the book
"Learning to Speak: A Manual For Parents©", which is going into second printing (revised). Additional steps take the form of individual, group, and family training. These procedures are currently in use at the Montreal Children's Hospital, Department of Psychology.

Links to journal articles & media reports about the Zelazo IPP™

Science - May 1982 pp. 70-71
Crosscurrents
The IQ's connected to the heartbeat

Television News Service/Medical Breakthroughs
OVERCOMING AUTISM #1250
©Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc. 1998

Psychiatric Times June 1997 p.55
New Diagnotic Tool Measures Infant, Toddler Information Processing.

THE MONTREAL GAZETTE - SNE NEWS
Psychologist, businessman market autism & PDD testing lab
By SHEILA MCGOVERN

Where can we have our child tested with the Zelazo IPP™ ?