Authentic Assessment Practices to Enhance Early Childhood Systems for Early Identification of Developmental Delays

This book chapter looks at how children with developmental delays can be identified early in early childhood systems. It says children are often missed because of barriers in the Child Find system and because of ineffective assessment practices. It describes authentic assessment, which means observing children during their familiar routines and activities. The chapter aims to share effective practices for early identification, explain why authentic assessment is used, and describe how it works in practice.

Key points

• Observing children in familiar routines and activities can be the basis for accurate assessment.
• Children with delays are often missed in early childhood systems because of barriers with the Child Find system and ineffective assessment practices.
• Infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with special needs benefit from early detection of developmental delays.
• Early detection allows timely services for the child and family to begin as soon as possible.
• The chapter covers early identification of risk, delay and disability, the rationale and purposes of authentic assessment, and its operational features.

Limitations

Only the abstract is available, so it gives no data, study design or findings on how well authentic assessment works. No country is named, though the reference to the Child Find system suggests a US context, which the text does not confirm.