Developmental Assessments in Child-Serving Settings

Recent policy statements by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and the National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education have highlighted the importance of early childhood professionals’ use of developmental screening and assessments to identify developmental delays and disorders.Many states, some through funding from the Commonwealth Fund’s Assuring Better Child Health and Development (ABCD), are adopting approaches to support universal developmental screening and assessment in primary care and/or early education settings.

Common Definitions

Screening, assessment, and evaluation are terms that are often used interchangeably with definitions that vary across disciplines, programs, and systems. Screening is typically viewed as a brief procedure, often conducted on all children at regular intervals to determine whether a child is meeting developmental milestones or if there is cause for further assessment. Assessment is a dynamic process that draws upon information from multiple sources, collected over time and settings, and can include the use of a variety of reliable tools and instruments. Assessments should be linked with intervention strategies to remediate identified problems. An evaluation is used to confirm all results and to determine a diagnosis. In recent years, a number of valid, standardized screening and assessment tools focused on young children.

Screening for social and emotional well-being in young children can help to identify “red flags” or indicators of behaviors that may be cause for concern. A red flag does not necessarily indicate an actual delay or disability, but signals that a more extensive assessment is warranted.

Screening, Assessment, and Evaluation in Project LAUNCH

Guided by the clear evidence of the power of developmental screening and assessment in identifying children with or at risk for developmental delays and/or with behavioral concerns, Project LAUNCH grantees have adopted a number of approaches to supporting the widespread use of screenings and assessments, including the following:

• Identifying a single screening or assessment instrument for use by all partners in the local implementation community
• Providing statewide or communitywide training on selected tools for early education staff, mental health consultants, and primary care providers
• Developing systems to ensure communication between early care staff and primary care providers on important topics, such as the results of screenings