Effect of Using the Ages and Stages Questionnaires on Childcare Providers' Developmental Assessment Ability

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Authors

Branson, Diane M.

Issue Date

2009

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Dissertation

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childcare provider , child find , developmental assessment , developmental disability , early intervention , screening

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Abstract

Effect of Using the Ages and Stages Questionnaires on Childcare Providers' Developmental Assessment Ability Abstract Benefits of early intervention for children who are identified with developmental delays and who receive early intervention are confirmed in the literature. Yet the majority of children are not identified prior to age 5 years. Childcare providers are a group of professionals who spend time with young children and who could assist with early recognition of children at risk for developmental delay, but there is a lack of research on this topic.Mixed methods sequential explanatory design was used to investigate childcare providers' ability to accurately assess child development and make appropriate referrals to child find agencies. A secondary goal of the study was to determine if certain childcare provider characteristics could predict which childcare providers would have high agreement between their developmental impression of a child and the ASQ results. Results from the quantitative data analysis suggest that childcare providers are able to recognize children at risk for developmental delays regardless of whether the ASQ was given first or second. Childcare providers were able to administer the ASQ with acceptable accuracy, sensitivity and specificity. The majority of childcare providers (89%) demonstrated high agreement between their developmental impression of a child and ASQ results. Specific childcare provider characteristics (age, experience, and level of education) did not predict which childcare providers would have high agreement between their developmental impression and ASQ results. Qualitative results showed that comparison of children to same-age peers was an important cue childcare providers used to recognize children with developmental differences and identified several barriers that interfere with childcare providers making appropriate referrals to child find agencies.

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In Copyright(All Rights Reserved)

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