Children with Developmental Delays

Introduction

It is important for children to begin developmental screening at an early age in order to identify developmental delays early on and begin necessary treatments. However, within young populations, testing is not always easy. Is there a variety of test that can be used to identify a variation of developmental delays, and are some tests are more effective than others? As a future professional counselor/potential school counselor this information is beneficial to understand, critique, and one day use first hand.

Because screening young children for developmental delays can be difficult, multidimensional assessments are important. With such a wide variety of screening instruments available, one might ask if some are more reliable and valid when paired together then others? By looking into the different tests/instruments/screening tools available for assessing delays, one might identify a more reliable and valid approach to making accurate assessments and early on detection of developmental delays in children.

First, focusing on language delays - Umek, Podlesek, and Fekonja (2005) prepared a study based on the different possibilities of language development in a child home environment. Here Umek et. al (2005), states that parents can help initiate speech by reading and encouraging reading, and helped to identify potential delays by using a self-report questionnaire (Home Literacy Environment Questionnaire) intended for the mothers of young children ages 2-4. The questionnaire requests information about how often the guardian reads to their child and addresses other areas including how often the child initiates reading or asks to be read to. The purpose of the HLEQ as stated by Umek et al (2005) is to explore the effects of preschool education on children's cognitive, language, social, and personality development. In addition, Wasik and Bond (2006) identified intervention strategies based on the result from two language delay assessments, including: the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III and the Expressive One-Word Vocabulary Test (3rd Ed.). These test are both designed for children of reading age (5-8years), and the results of these tests were compared to the results of the same test taken after reading interventions at school, which showed significant vocabulary improvement.

Moving on to autism, it is common that most children with autistic disorder will be identified before they reach school age. However, some children who happen to be lower functioning, and possibly higher functioning children from the broader spectrum of ASD require testing at school age. One particular test called the Autistic Diagnoistic Interview-Revised (ASI-R), is a semi-structured interview administered to the subjects primary caregiver (Volker &Lapata, 2008). The interview consists of about 93 questions and takes 90 - 180 minutes to administer. The purpose of this test is to distinguish individuals with autism from individuals with language delays or mental retardation (Volker &Lapata, 2008).

In addition to autism, the characteristics of Down syndrome also include impairment in communication, language, and memory (Davis, 2008). However, Down syndrome is diagnosed through primary through its presence of physical anomalies and genetic testing. The purpose of Davis (2008) article is to review common treatment methods and to aid in the defining/classification of distinct developmental delays. In addition, the use of cognitive testing remains to be most useful in testing associated with children with Down syndrome. Gathercole and Pickering (2000) discuss one type of cognitive testing, the Working Memory Test Battery, which consists of 13 measures, selected to explore the working memory model.

Which such a variety of screening and assessment tests developed to identify develop delays being used and administered in a school setting, it is not uncommon for one to be concerned about culture, socio-economical status, race/gender and the validity and reliability of such testing methods. Barbarin (2007) states that early child school assessments are the most valuable way of assessing and detecting delays, as well as preventing later adjustment disabilities. In addition, Connor, Morrison, and Slominski (2007) researched preschool intervention regarding short-tem and long-term social and cognitive gains in children experiencing underachievement due to poverty, disabilities, and other risk factors.

The next section of this paper will summarize the research and assessment measures in greater detail.

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