| Course | PA 534 Pediatrics |
|---|---|
| Week | 5 |
| Paper type | Developmental screening write-up |
| Length | About 600 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | Master of Physician Assistant Studies (MPAS) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for PA 534 Week 5
Milestone Screening Write-Up at E.'s 24-Month Visit: Each Item With the Object It Needed, the Proportion Behind the Age, One Item Not Tested and the M-CHAT-R Scored on a Tired Morning
Student Name
Chamberlain University
PA 534: Pediatrics
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Milestone Screening Write-Up at E.'s 24-Month Visit: Each Item With the Object It Needed, the Proportion Behind the Age, One Item Not Tested and the M-CHAT-R Scored on a Tired Morning
The Morning the Screen Happened
The 24-month well visit, scheduled before the diarrhea began, was held on the same day as the sick visit at the parent's request. E. had slept poorly and cried for the first ten minutes. The conditions are written down because a tired, uncomfortable toddler may not show what they can do.
The Proportion Behind the Age
The milestones used are from the CDC's updated checklists, which now list skills that at least 75 percent of children show by a given age, rather than the 50 percent used before (Zubler et al., 2022). Missing one of them therefore means E. is behind three quarters of peers, not half, which makes it a more meaningful flag.
Items, With What Each Needed
Kicks a ball: ball placed on the floor; E. kicked it forward. Achieved.
Runs: clinic hallway; E. ran unsteadily toward parent A. Achieved.
Walks up a few stairs with or without help: no stairs in the examination area. Not tested; parent A reports E. climbs the two steps at home holding the rail.
Eats with a spoon: no food offered in clinic; parent report yes. Parent report.
Stacks at least two small objects: two 1-inch cubes placed on the table; E. stacked three. Achieved.
Points to show something interesting: parent pointed out a picture; E. pointed to a dog on the wall poster and looked back at the parent. Achieved.
Says at least two words together: parent reports "more milk" and "daddy go." Clinician heard "uh oh ball." Achieved.
Shows two named body parts on request: E. pointed to nose and eyes. Achieved.
Notices when others are hurt or upset: parent report; E. patted a crying cousin. Parent report.
Not Tested Is Not Failed
The stair item is recorded as not tested, with the parent's report beside it. Writing it as a failure would add a false concern; writing it as achieved would claim something nobody saw.
The Autism Screen
The M-CHAT-R, recommended at 18 and 24 months, was completed by parent A in the waiting room. Score: 1 of 20 at-risk answers, on the item about responding to name, which parent A said E. "sometimes ignores when busy." A score of 0 to 2 is low risk and needs no follow-up interview (Robins et al., 2014).
Concerning, as the Assignment Defines It
The course defines a concerning result as any missed milestone on the CDC checklist for the age or an M-CHAT-R score of 3 or more. E. has neither. The single item about responding to name will be revisited at the next visit, and hearing will be checked since E. has had ear infections.
How Illness Bears on It
A child with weeks of diarrhea, poor intake and pain may lose ground temporarily. The screen is reassuring, and if the gastrointestinal workup finds a treatable cause, development will be rechecked after treatment to confirm the gains hold.
Hearing and Vision
A hearing screen was booked because of recurrent ear infections and the one flagged item about responding to name. Vision was assessed by fixing and following a small toy, which E. did with each eye.
References
Robins, D. L., Casagrande, K., Barton, M., Chen, C.-M. A., Dumont-Mathieu, T., & Fein, D. (2014). Validation of the modified checklist for autism in toddlers, revised with follow-up (M-CHAT-R/F). Pediatrics, 133(1), 37-45. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2013-1813
Zubler, J. M., Wiggins, L. D., Macias, M. M., Whitaker, T. M., Shaw, J. S., Squires, J. K., Pajek, J. A., Wolf, R. B., Slaughter, K. S., Broughton, A. S., Gerndt, K. L., Mlodoch, B. J., & Lipkin, P. H. (2022). Evidence-informed milestones for developmental surveillance tools. Pediatrics, 149(3), Article e2021052138. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-052138
PA 534 Week 5 instructions, in plain terms
The milestone write-up asks you to report a developmental screen in a way another clinician could repeat. Describe the conditions of the morning first, since sleep, illness and setting change what a toddler will show. Explain the normative basis of the checklist you used, including what proportion of children reach each skill by the stated age. Each item should be recorded with what was needed to test it and whether the result was observed, reported by a parent or not tested at all. The instructions are firm that an item not tested must not be written as failed or achieved. Any standardized autism screen at this age should be reported with its score, the cutoff and the specific items that scored. Then apply the course's own definition of a concerning result and discuss how current illness bears on the findings.
How this PA 534 Week 5 example is built
The paper opens with the setting: a well visit combined with a sick visit, a poor night and ten minutes of crying. A short section explains the 75 percent basis of the CDC checklists (Zubler et al., 2022). Nine items follow, each with its object: a ball on the floor, the clinic hallway, two one-inch cubes, a dog on a wall poster, and parent reports for spoon use and comforting a cousin. The stair item is recorded as not tested, since the room had no steps, with the parent's account beside it. The M-CHAT-R section reports 1 of 20 at-risk answers on responding to name and the 0 to 2 low-risk band (Robins et al., 2014). The course definition, any missed checklist item or a score of 3 or more, is applied and not met. The illness section plans a recheck after the gut workup, and a final section books hearing and notes vision by fix and follow.
PA 534 Week 5 rubric: what full points look like
Faculty grade the screening write-up mainly on traceability. Items reported only as passed or failed, without the object used or the source of the result, lose the most. A large share then goes to separating observed, reported and not tested results; marking an untested item as a failure is a serious deduction because it creates a false concern. Explaining the normative proportion behind the checklist earns its own credit. The autism screen is graded on the score, the cutoff and the item that scored, not just the word normal. Applying the course definition of concerning, in so many words, protects another portion. Connecting the screen to the child's health on the day, with a plan to recheck, shows clinical judgment. Hearing and vision follow-up and APA citations carry the smaller shares that are left.
Common PA 534 Week 5 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Assignments in this week come back most often because every item is written as achieved, including ones nobody tested. Another reason is an autism screen reported as normal with no score or cutoff, so the next clinician cannot see which answer was flagged. Some drafts also skip the conditions of the visit, which leaves a tired toddler's poor performance unexplained. If your case is a different age, such as a 9-month or 30-month visit, or uses the ASQ instead of the CDC checklist, pass along the screen results and your section's definitions so that our version records each item with its object and source, keep untested items apart and report any standardized score with the cutoff. If your course sets its own threshold for concern, that wording would be applied directly.
Get a PA-534 Week 5 example written to your instructions
Send the Week 5 instructions, the age you were assigned, and the instrument your classroom teaches, and a custom write-up is built to them and returned inside 24-48h, the first one free. Include the list of findings your section treats as concerning, since the reading is graded against that list.
More PA 534 papers and MPAS samples
- PA 534 Week 1: Missing History Item Post
- PA 534 Week 2: Pediatric Vital Sign Norms Table
- PA 534 Week 3: Informant History Write-Up
- PA 534 Week 4: Growth Trajectory Analysis
- PA 534 Week 6: Dose Error Analysis
- PA 534 Week 7: Immunization Schedule Rationale
- PA 534 Week 8: Adolescent Confidentiality Brief
- PA 533 Week 5: Maternal-Fetal Risk Brief
- PA 532 Week 5: Procedure Step Sequence
- PA 531 Week 5: Stabilization Sequence Write-Up
- PA 530 Week 5: Overuse Injury Analysis
PA 534 Week 5 questions, answered
The child would not cooperate with half the items. What then?
That is a result and it is written as one. Record which items were not attempted, why, and what was offered instead, then say plainly that the screen is incomplete. A document that reports refusals honestly and says what would be needed to finish reads as competent, while one that silently scores an untested item is a fabrication.
The case gives an age in weeks and the milestones are listed by month. How do I handle that?
Convert once, at the top, and show the conversion. Then work in whichever unit the instrument uses, because switching back and forth mid-document is how a child ends up assessed against two different ages in the same write-up. Where the case also gives a birth several weeks early, say whether you adjusted and on what basis.
How far can the closing section go?
One step, stated plainly. A screen supports looking further, arranging a fuller assessment, or seeing the child again after a stated interval. What it does not support is a plan, a label or a projection about school, and a write-up that supplies any of those has stopped screening and begun doing something the week did not ask for.
Where can I find a free PA 534 Week 5 sample paper?
This page has a full PA 534 Week 5 milestone screening write-up at 24 months, with nine checklist items, one untested item and an M-CHAT-R score.
What M-CHAT-R score does the PA 534 Week 5 sample report?
It reports 1 of 20 at-risk answers, on responding to name, which falls in the 0 to 2 low-risk band and needs no follow-up interview.