Keywords

academic, assessment, at-risk, community-based, collaborative, developmental delays, follow-up, interdisciplinary, partnerships, screening, universal

 

Authors

  1. Goelman, Hillel PhD
  2. The CHILD Project

Abstract

This article discusses 3 complementary approaches to the identification of young children at risk for developmental delays. The first is a longitudinal follow-up program that targets and tracks the development of infants admitted to neonatal intensive care units. The second approach is designed to identify children with neuromotor delays from birth to 36 months by testing the validity of a new screening measure and comparing traditional and online instructional techniques to teach professionals how to use the instrument. The third approach is a community-based, universal, developmental screening project that also examines the impact of this project on the community's capacity for early identification and intervention with young children. The article reports on the goals, objectives, research questions, methodology, and early results of these 3 approaches. These approaches are part of a larger collaborative interdisciplinary, ecological, community/university research initiative studying early child development in British Columbia, Canada. Drawing on a wide range of university-based health, medical, and social science researchers working in close collaboration with community-based early intervention programs, the article discusses the 3 approaches as points along a continuum of longitudinal follow-up, targeted, and universal screening early identification programs and also examines the "value added" of conducting these studies under the umbrella of one overall program of research. On the basis of the findings of the 3 studies, we propose an integrated framework for the surveillance, screening, and early identification of young children.