ROLE OF ASSESSMENTS IN EARLY IDENTIFICATION & INTERVENTION Dr. Smita Desai DRISHTI 2009

Focus Early identification-purpose & process Areas of developmental assessment Types of assessments/diagnostic tools for developmental areas Role of assessments in intervention Late bloomers…fact or myth?

Early identification-Purpose Determine presence of developmental problems that may be obstacles to learning or place children ‘at risk’ for learning difficulties (This includes children from birth through 5 years) Provide early intervention services Limit scope of “Cascading effect” {Identification at this stage would not be able to distinguish between children whose problems may persist from those who will make adequate progress with time.}

Early identification-Process Screening Determining presence of risk indicators & protective factors Systematic observations Assessment of developmental status

Screening Recognise risk indicators Determine if additional evaluation is required Outline domains for assessment Screening is not intended for diagnosis, placement or planning All preschoolers should be screened for vision, hearing, gross & fine motor development, early language development, reading skill development Screening tools: Case History, rating checklists for caregivers, observations, Developmental screeners (e.g. Developmental Indicators for Assessment of learning-DIAL)

Risk Indicators and protective factors Risk Indicators: Pre-, Peri-, postnatal conditions Genetic & environmental conditions Developmental milestones Attention & behaviour Protective factors: Access to quality pre-, peri-, postnatal care Maternal education High quality learning opportunities Multiple supports- therapy, school, home

Risk indicators do not indicate a definite presence of a learning disability, neither do they necessarily predict later difficulties. Protective factors do not rule out prevention or presence of a disability However, presence of risk indicators definitely indicate the need for immediate action

Systematic Observations Specifics of Situation/Environment Child’s approach to materials and activities Level of attention, interest Utilisation of energy Quality of movement Communication, social interaction Behaviour, emotional expression

Developmental assessment It is a comprehensive evaluation to ascertain the developmental status of a child This could be across various domains of development The main goal is to determine the child’s specific pattern of abilities and needs. It also helps to recommend a plan of action to address the developmental delays/deficits An interdisciplinary approach is required These evaluations should focus on developmental norms across different domains

Interdisciplinary team Audiologist Speech/language pathologist Physio-therapist Occupational therapist Educational/school psychologist Special educator Early childhood education teachers

Areas of developmental assessment Motor functions: gross-, fine-, oral motor Sensory functions: auditory, visual, kinesthetic, haptic Communication: speech/language form & content Social-emotional adjustment: activities of daily living, behaviour, social interaction, play Cognition: attention, perceptual organization, concept formation, memory Emergent literacy: phonological awareness, print awareness, number recognition & concepts

Tools for developmental assessment Motor functions Development sequence Checklists for gross & fine motor development, posture and balance, sensory systems, development of pre- writing and handwriting skills. Bayley Scales of Infant Development Communication Test of early language development Pre-School language scale -3 Developmental English language List Linguistic Profile Test Test for Auditory comprehension of language

Tools for developmental assessment Cognition Developmental activities Screening Inventory- DASI-II Seguin Form Board Stanford Binet Intelligence scale/BKT Bayley Scales of Infant development Battelle Developmental Inventory

Tools for developmental assessment Emergent literacy Phonological awareness, recognition of lower case and upper case letters, number recognition, number names, pre-writing skills, language concepts Social/adaptive Vineland Social Maturity Scale Battelle Developmental Inventory Child Behaviour Checklist

Role of assessments in early intervention Identification Placement Program planning (intervention) Re-evaluation Limit the scope of the ‘Cascading effect’

Late bloomers: fact or myth? Developmental lag theory (late bloomers) vs. Skill deficit theory 3 important longitudinal studies (Juel,1988; Francis, et al 1996; Shaywitz et al., 1999) clearly indicate the presence of skill deficits in the performance of poor readers versus a developmental lag In these studies, poor readers, on an average never caught up with the average/good readers on any measure of reading ability.

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