OBJECTIVE: To construct a test used by community pediatricians and other professionals in the UK as a screening test for verbal and non-verbal development in children aged 2 to 4 years of age. METHODS: A multifaceted developmental test of cognitive skills was constructed, modeled on the Bus Puzde Test (Egan 1984) for its case of administration and appeal. Each stage in the design was piloted in Rajasthan in all socioeconomic groups. Stages include simple ethnic modification of the original test, development of more socioculturally appropriate scenes, a detailed statistical procedure of item analysis and reliability studies. The picture was converted into a wooden insert puzzle, called The Indan Picture Puzzle Test (IPPT) and standardized on a random sample of 616 children to construct the norms. RESULT: The IPPT assesses aspects of early language, picture interpretation, performance skills and conceptual development in children aged 2 to 5 years. Analysis of the standardized data highlighted the need for separate norms for each socioeconomic group. CONCLUSION: Verbal abilities were significantly different between advantaged and disadvantaged (slum and rural) groups though performance skills were comparable