The BDI-3 for Pediatric Therapists: Domains, Screening Test, Scoring, and Report Writing

If you work in early intervention, a preschool program, or on a school team evaluating children leaving Part C, you have likely seen a Battelle score report. The current edition is the Battelle Developmental Inventory, Third Edition (BDI-3), which replaced the BDI-2 and BDI-2 Normative Update. Here is what the BDI-3 is, what changed, where the screening test fits, and how to write up results without overstating them.

Why therapists use the BDI-3

The BDI-3 measures developmental milestones from birth through 7 years, 11 months across five domains in one instrument (Riverside Insights, n.d.-b). Riverside positions it for special education eligibility and IFSP and IEP development, and it meets federal reporting requirements for Part C, Part B/619, and Head Start (Riverside Insights, 2020). The Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center publishes a crosswalk mapping BDI-3 domains to the three OSEP child outcomes (Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center [ECTA], 2026).

For OTs and PTs, the draw is that the Motor and Adaptive domains sit inside a battery the rest of the team often already uses, so your findings land on the same metric as communication and cognition.

What the BDI-3 is

• Author and publisher: Jean Newborg; Riverside Insights, 2020 (Australian Council for Educational Research [ACER], n.d.). The official launch was October 2020 (eSchool News, 2020).
• Ages: Birth through 7 years, 11 months (Riverside Insights, n.d.-b).
• Format: Standardized and individually administered, using structured tasks, observation, or caregiver and teacher interview depending on the item (Riverside Insights, 2020). Examiners can give one domain, all five, or any combination, in any order, which suits team administration (Nelson, n.d.).
• Time: About 5 to 10 minutes per subtest according to one distributor (ACER, n.d.); total time depends on age and how many domains you give.
• Examiners: ACER lists a bachelor's degree in a field such as psychology, nursing, speech or occupational therapy, social work, or special education (ACER, n.d.). Check your state and program rules too.
• Spanish: A BDI-3 Spanish edition is available (Riverside Insights, n.d.-b).

The suite has three parts: the BDI-3 Developmental Complete, the BDI-3 Screening Test, and the Battelle Early Academic Survey (BEAS) (Riverside Insights, n.d.-j).

What it measures

The Developmental Complete covers five domains and 13 subdomains (Riverside Insights, n.d.-a; ECTA, 2026):

• Adaptive: Self-Care and Personal Responsibility.
• Social-Emotional: Adult Interaction, Peer Interaction, and Self-Concept and Social Role.
• Communication: Receptive Communication and Expressive Communication.
• Motor: Gross Motor, Fine Motor, and Perceptual Motor.
• Cognitive: Attention and Memory, Reasoning and Academic Skills, and Perception and Concepts.

Items are scored 2 (achieved), 1 (emerging), or 0 (not demonstrated) (Riverside Insights, n.d.-a). Each subdomain starts at the item for the child's age. The basal is three consecutive 2s and the ceiling is three consecutive 0s; you may start lower when a disability is suspected, but the rules still apply (Riverside Insights, n.d.-f).

The Screening Test

The Screening Test uses a subset of items from each domain and takes about 10 to 30 minutes, with referral cut scores at 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 standard deviations below the mean (Nelson, n.d.). Your program decides which cut point to use. It covers the full birth to 7 years, 11 months range in English and Spanish, and a Minnesota Department of Health review lists sensitivity of 0.80 to 0.94 and specificity of 0.76 to 0.84 (Minnesota Department of Health, n.d.). Do not reuse screener item scores to score the Developmental Complete; Riverside says that breaks standardization for both tests (Riverside Insights, n.d.-g).

The Battelle Early Academic Survey

The BEAS is new. It measures early literacy and math for ages 3 years, 6 months through 7 years, 11 months (Riverside Insights, 2020) in under 30 minutes (Riverside Insights, n.d.-b), and can be readministered after four months for progress monitoring (Riverside Insights, n.d.-h). Most OTs will not be the ones giving it.

What changed from the BDI-2

• The BDI-2 Personal-Social domain (Burgess et al., 2025) is now called Social-Emotional.
• New items, updated artwork, and fewer manipulatives and presentation cards than the BDI-2 NU (Nelson, n.d.).
• Updated standardization and norms (eSchool News, 2020), weighted to 2020 census projections (Minnesota Department of Health, n.d.).
• The new BEAS battery.
• Digital administration through the Mobile Data Solution app, which works offline, and Riverside Score web scoring with automatic basal, ceiling, and raw score tallies (Riverside Insights, 2020; eSchool News, 2020).

Because the norms changed, do not treat BDI-2 and BDI-3 standard scores as the same yardstick when tracking progress.

Scoring and how to report it

The core score is the Developmental Quotient (DQ), a standard score with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, reported for each domain and as a Total DQ. A domain DQ requires every subdomain applicable to the child's age, and a Total DQ requires all five domains; partial administration produces no DQ (Riverside Insights, n.d.-d). DQs come from a sum of scaled scores conversion shown in the Table of Scores in Riverside Score reports (Riverside Insights, n.d.-e). Supplemental scores such as z scores are not given for a domain when its DQ falls below 45 (Riverside Insights, n.d.-c).

Riverside's qualitative descriptors include Significant Developmental Delay, Mild Developmental Delay, Below Average, Average, and Above Average, with ranges in the Examiner's Manual and the DQ Proficiency Range Chart (Riverside Insights, n.d.-i). Use those ranges and your state's eligibility criteria, not ranges remembered from the BDI-2. Riverside recommends waiting 3 to 6 months before readministering the Developmental Complete (Riverside Insights, n.d.-h).

A realistic example

Maya, age 3 years, 4 months, is transitioning from EI to a district preschool evaluation with fine motor and self-care concerns. The SLP gives Communication, the school psychologist gives Cognitive and Social-Emotional, and the OT gives Motor and Adaptive, collecting some Adaptive items by parent interview.

Sample score summary (FICTIONAL)

Fictional scores for illustration only, not taken from BDI-3 tables. DQs use the published mean of 100 and SD of 15. Subdomain scaled scores assume a mean of 10 and SD of 3, which we could not verify publicly, so confirm in your manual. Percentiles follow from those metrics.

• Motor DQ: 76 (5th percentile)
• Gross Motor scaled score: 8 (25th percentile)
• Fine Motor scaled score: 5 (5th percentile)
• Perceptual Motor scaled score: 4 (2nd percentile)
• Adaptive DQ: 84 (14th percentile)
• Self-Care scaled score: 6 (9th percentile)
• Personal Responsibility scaled score: 9 (37th percentile)

The Total DQ belongs in the integrated team report once all five domains are done.

How to write it up

The Motor and Adaptive domains of the Battelle Developmental Inventory, Third Edition (BDI-3) were administered through structured tasks, observation, and parent interview. Developmental Quotients (DQs) have a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. Maya earned a Motor DQ of 76 (5th percentile). Gross motor skills were a relative strength, while fine motor and perceptual motor skills were areas of need: she used a fisted grasp on a crayon, did not imitate a vertical line, and needed help to stack blocks to a model. Her Adaptive DQ was 84 (14th percentile); per parent report she is not yet removing her shoes or using a spoon without spilling. The team will consider these results with classroom observation and parent input.

Pair every score with observed behavior. The DQ shows how far from age expectations a child is; your observations show why and what to target.

What the research says

Independent research on the BDI-3 is still thin. A recent scoping review rated the BDI-2 among multi-domain tools with good psychometric evidence but found no systematic review data yet on the BDI-3 (Burgess et al., 2025). Most BDI-3 evidence comes from the publisher, which reports domain internal consistency of .92 to .97, test-retest reliability of .79 to .87, and validity studies against the Bayley-III, PLS-5, WPPSI-IV, and BDI-2, plus special group studies including autism, motor delay, and prematurity (Nelson, n.d.).

The large EI studies mostly used the earlier edition. Among 13,781 infants and toddlers screened for autism, BDI-2 Total DQ and domain scores significantly predicted screening outcome (Peters & Matson, 2020). Battelle data from 57,966 Massachusetts EI children, collected from 2011 to 2019, yielded four developmental profiles; one marked by communication delay with relative motor strength was linked to higher likelihood of autism (Troxel et al., 2024). Do not assume these findings transfer exactly to the BDI-3.

Practical cautions

• Skip an age-applicable subdomain and you get no domain DQ.
• Interview items depend on the informant, so note who answered.
• Watch for false ceilings: if a child would earn credit past three 0s, keep testing and reapply the rule (Riverside Insights, n.d.-f).
• Fine Motor and Perceptual Motor give a broad picture. Add a dedicated OT measure for visual motor integration or handwriting readiness.
• A screener result is a referral decision, not an eligibility determination.

How it compares

• Bayley-4 (Pearson): Ages 16 days to 42 months; Cognitive, Language, Motor, Social-Emotional, and Adaptive Behavior; about 30 to 70 minutes (Pearson, n.d.). Common in medical follow-up. The BDI-3 reaches much older children.
• ASQ-3 (Brookes): A parent-completed screener with 21 questionnaires for 1 to 66 months, covering communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem solving, and personal-social, taking 10 to 15 minutes (Brookes Publishing, n.d.). A cheaper first pass; the BDI-3 Screening Test is examiner-administered and linked to the full battery.

Bottom line

The BDI-3 keeps the BDI-2's five domains and 13 subdomains while updating items, norms, and digital scoring and adding the BEAS. Its value for EI, preschool, and school teams is a shared metric for eligibility and outcome reporting. Give every age-applicable subdomain, use the manual's descriptor ranges, update BDI-2 language in your templates, and be candid that most independent research is on the earlier edition.

References

Australian Council for Educational Research. (n.d.). Battelle Developmental Inventory, Third Edition (BDI-3). Retrieved October 26, 2026, from https://shop.acer.org/batteller-developmental-inventory-third-editiontm-bdi-3tm.html

Brookes Publishing. (n.d.). ASQ-3. Retrieved October 26, 2026, from https://agesandstages.com/products-pricing/asq3/

Burgess, A., Luke, C., Jackman, M., Wotherspoon, J., Whittingham, K., Benfer, K., Goodman, S., Caesar, R., Nesakumar, T., Bora, S., Honeyman, D., Copplin, D., Reedman, S., Cairney, J., Reid, N., Sakzewski, L., & Boyd, R. N. (2025). Clinical utility and psychometric properties of tools for early detection of developmental concerns and disability in young children: A scoping review. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 67(3), 286-306. https://doi.org/10.1111/dmcn.16076

Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center. (2026). Crosswalk of the BDI-3 to the three child outcomes. https://ectacenter.org/~pdfs/eco/crosswalk-BDI-3.pdf

eSchool News. (2020, October 7). Riverside Insights launches Battelle early childhood assessment with updated data validity. https://www.eschoolnews.com/newsline/2020/10/07/riverside-insights-launches-battelle-early-childhood-assessment-with-updated-data-validity/

Minnesota Department of Health. (n.d.). [Developmental screening instrument review: BDI-3 Screening Test]. https://www.health.mn.gov/docs/people/childrenyouth/ctc/devscreen/bdi3nu.pdf

Nelson. (n.d.). Battelle Developmental Inventory, Third Edition (BDI-3) [Product brochure]. https://pages.nelson.com/assessment/pdf/BDI3_Brochure.pdf

Pearson. (n.d.). Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Fourth Edition. Retrieved October 26, 2026, from https://www.pearsonassessments.com/store/usassessments/en/Store/Professional-Assessments/Cognition-%26-Neuro/Bayley-Scales-of-Infant-and-Toddler-Development-%7C-Fourth-Edition/p/100001996.html

Peters, W. J., & Matson, J. L. (2020). The relationship between developmental functioning and screening outcome for autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 32(2), 293-305. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-019-09689-x

Riverside Insights. (2020, February 18). Riverside Insights announces availability of Battelle Developmental Inventory, Third Edition [Press release]. Business Wire. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200218005855/en/Riverside-Insights-Announces-Availability-Battelle-Developmental-Inventory

Riverside Insights. (n.d.-a). Battelle Developmental Inventory, 3rd Edition (BDI-3) [Brochure]. https://info.riversideinsights.com/hubfs/BDI%203%20Brochure_Final%20Version_2022.pdf

Riverside Insights. (n.d.-b). BDI-3 assessment. Retrieved October 26, 2026, from https://riversideinsights.com/clinical-assessments/bdi3

Riverside Insights. (n.d.-c). BDI-3 Developmental Complete: Why don't I have a z-score for the domain Developmental Quotients (DQ)? https://info.riversideinsights.com/en/rshelp/bdi-3-developmental-complete-why-dont-i-have-a-z-score-for-the-domain-developmental-quotients-dq

Riverside Insights. (n.d.-d). BDI-3: Do I need to administer all domains to get a Developmental Quotient? https://info.riversideinsights.com/en/rshelp/bdi-3-do-i-need-to-administer-all-domains-to-get-a-developmental-quotient

Riverside Insights. (n.d.-e). BDI-3: Locating the conversion table for the sum of scaled scores in your score report. https://info.riversideinsights.com/en/rshelp/bdi-3-locating-the-conversion-table-for-the-sum-of-scaled-scores-in-your-score-report

Riverside Insights. (n.d.-f). BDI-3 standardized administration guidance. https://info.riversideinsights.com/en/rshelp/bdi-3-standardized-administration-guidance

Riverside Insights. (n.d.-g). Can I use the BDI-3 screener item scores/responses to score the BDI-3 Developmental Complete? https://info.riversideinsights.com/en/rshelp/can-i-use-the-bdi-3-screener-item-scores/responses-to-score-the-bdi-3-developmental-complete

Riverside Insights. (n.d.-h). How soon can I re-administer the BDI-3 to the same examinee? https://info.riversideinsights.com/en/rshelp/how-soon-can-i-re-administer-the-bdi-3-to-the-same-examinee

Riverside Insights. (n.d.-i). Qualitative descriptors for BDI-3. https://info.riversideinsights.com/en/rshelp/qualitative-descriptors-for-bdi-3

Riverside Insights. (n.d.-j). What assessments are part of the BDI-3 suite? https://info.riversideinsights.com/en-us/rshelp/what-assessments-are-part-of-the-bdi-3-suite

Troxel, M., Sheldrick, R. C., Eisenhower, A., & Carter, A. S. (2024). Patterns and correlates of developmental profiles using the Battelle Developmental Inventory among children in early intervention. Journal of Early Intervention, 46(4), 544-561. https://doi.org/10.1177/10538151231191757

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