ROLE OF ASSESSMENTS IN EARLY IDENTIFICATION & INTERVENTION

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

2. 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?

3. 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.}

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

5. 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)

6. 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 and protective factors

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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 Tools for developmental assessment

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

16. 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.

17. ANY QUESTIONS??? HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!