An Introduction to Developmental Screening in the Education Component
by E. Dollie Wolverton, Chief Education Services Branch, Head Start Bureau, and Michele A. Plutro, Ed.D., Education Specialist, Head Start Bureau

---

In keeping with the Head Start Program Performance Standards all children must receive developmental screening and ongoing assessment. Developmental screening refers to motor, language, social, cognitive or thinking, and perceptual skills. However the Performance Standards do not require any particular strategy, instrument, or observation technique to be used. Rather, selected procedures should conform to sound early childhood practice. Appropriate practices relevant in screening and assessment situations include three broad categories. Ideally, procedures would be child-centered, multi-dimensional, and activity-centered.

Child-centered screening and ongoing assessment allow staff to focus on the child's individual abilities in relation to the sequence of development. A multi-dimensional approach recognizes that children grow in many ways during the preschool years and that development in one area is related to development in other areas. Activity-centered screening and assessment procedures yield information useful to members of the education team, including parents who are planning the Head Start experiences for groups and individual children.

Information about children's development must be gathered in consistent and systematic ways. Both informal and formal techniques, activities, and tasks are designed to examine a child's abilities in each of the following areas or domains: gross motor development, fine motor development, visual perception skills, cognitive development, social and emotional development, self- help skills, expressive language, and receptive language. The following screening tools are among those often selected by Head Start staff to help profile children's development across domains:

Some criteria for selecting instruments are listed in A Guide for Education Coordinators in Head Start: Compatible with the Head Start Program Performance Standards Includes items for all developmental areas Items are developmentally sequenced Reflects age-appropriate skills With a minimum of training, easily administered by education staff Information gained is useful for identifying children who may need more in depth evaluation, as well as useful in planning individual and group activities Leads staff toward improved observation skills Results facilitate sharing child information with team members, including parents Culture, ethnic, and gender sensitive and bias free

Carolina Developmental Profile Kaufman Preschool Scale McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities Battelle Developmental Inventory R.I.D.E. Scale Denver Developmental Screening - new edition Early Screening Inventory

Developmental screening is only a beginning look at individual children. When screening identifies children who are in need of further evaluation or diagnostic testing, and the subsequent results indicate that the child has a disability, an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) must be developed for that child.

Although IEP's differ from individualizing curricula, the underlying spirit is similar to the principle of individualizing as it applies to each child in Head Start. In both situations, everyday activities are designed to strengthen all areas of development: physical. emotional. social, and intellectual, and classroom teachers and home visitors should work at including every child in day-to-day activities and experiences, as well as implementing the IEP.

Grantees have probably discovered that screening and assessment instruments alone do not give a complete picture of a child. Without ongoing observations, notations, and dialogue with parents, very important information about a child can get lost-information that may be essential to the referral process or to individualizing. Child observations should be added to on a regular basis, shared with parents, incorporated at staff meetings, and made a part of the total information available about each child.

Back to Top | Back to Table of Contents | Next Page