Presented are 13 papers describing the Seattle Project and reviewing the literature relevant to the project's purpose of developing and testing an assessment format to enable nurses to better identify health and developmental problems in children. Six papers pertaining to predictor variables cover the areas of prenatal and perinatal factors, congenital abnormalities, nutrition, parents' perceptions of their children, the animate environment, and the inanimate environment. Considered in the six papers on outcome variables as assessments of the child's functioning are physical growth and development, sleep patterns, childhood accidents, language, mental development, and social development. Tables and figures are also provided. (SB)