DNE: Lecture 18*

• Key benefits of developmental screening

  • Early detection of problems

  • Attention can be focused on activities that strengthen child’s skills

  • Increase volume and quality of information available to parents regarding in-home support for normal development

  • Provide common reference point and basis for interaction for parents, child care, child development specialist
• Principles of child development

  • Young children develop rapidly and typically progress in spurts

  • General stages and sequences of development must be recognized

  • Patterns and timing of growth and development

  • environmental effects on child development

  • Child who had been toilet trained may begin to have accidents starting pre-school

  • Change in routine; separation anxiety

  • Learning to walk requires environment that encourages practice not only of walking but also behaviours and skills

  • Cultural influence of development: ex. when to smile, shake hand
• 6 Developmental Domains :

  1. Physical health
  2. Motor development
  3. Cognitive development
  4. Language & communication
  5. Approaches to learning
  6. Social & emotional
• General observational guidelines for teachers

  1. know what to expect
  2. observe over period of time
  3. record only what the child is doing
  4. ABC data (Antecedent, Behaviour, Consequence)
  5. record facts and details
  6. Frequency, rate, duration, latency etc.
  7. Baseline (for assessment)
• Developmental Screening

  • cannot confirm a disability
  • helps identify children that can benefit from early childhood intervention programs
  • are divided into categories of physical, cognitive, language, and social/emotional
• Considerations when choosing screening instruments

  • Screening instruments should have a report on reliability and validity of data
  • Should provide score data from a tested population that is used to compare against the results of the children in your care
  • When choosing screening instruments, time is an important factor for consideration
  • Consider costs of the instrument
  • Trained professional
  • Consider referral process
• Ways to think about screening

  • Developmental Screening Instruments (focus on observation and provide initial information)

  • Achievement Screenings (measures knowledge or skills a child has learned)
  • Social-emotional screenings (brief screenings that target social-emotional issues)
  • Readiness screenings (Detects a child is ready to benefit from a specific program)
  • Instructional assessments (assessments based on children's work in the classroom)
• Difference between Screening and Assessment

  Screening

  • Aim to determine whether a child needs further assessments.

  • It is a process that makes initial estimation about a possible existing problem. The result is usually ‘yes’ or ‘no’

  • It is not a detailed analysis Assessment

  • Aim to collect detailed information for a treatment plan

  • For defining the nature of a problem, determining a diagnosis, and developing a specific treatment plan for related problems