Assessment: The ongoing process by which qualified professionals, together with families, through standardized tests and observation, look at all areas of a child's development: motor, language, intellectual, social/emotional and self-help skills, including dressing, toileting, etc. Both areas of strength and those requiring support and intervention are identified. Types of assessments include:
- Developmental assessment: An ongoing process of observing and thinking about a child's current competencies (including knowledge, skills, and personality), and the best ways to help the child develop further.
- Family assessment: A systematic process of learning from family members their ideas about a child's development and their strengths, priorities, and concerns as they are related to the child's development.
- Multidisciplinary assessment: A form of developmental assessment (see above) in which a group of professionals with different kinds of training and experience works with a child and family, directly or indirectly. This type of assessment can be helpful because professionals with different kinds of training are skilled in observing and interpreting different aspects of a child's development and behavior.
- Play-based assessment: A form of developmental assessment that involves observation of how a child plays alone, with peers, or with parents or other familiar caregivers, in free play or in special games. This type of assessment can be helpful because play is a natural way for children to show what they can do, how they feel, how they learn new things, and how they behave with familiar people.
Audiologist: A professional trained in assessing a child's hearing. In a developmental assessment of an infant or young child, an audiologist would look for signs of whether or not there are any hearing impairments or loss, usually by placing earphones on a child through which sounds are transmitted at various frequencies. Audiologists often work closely with speech and language specialists to address problems in communication.
Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist: A psychiatrist who, in addition to medical and adult psychiatric training (social, emotional and behavioral concerns), has been trained and certified in working with children and adolescents and can prescribe medication.
Child and Adolescent Psychologist: A psychologist who has specialized training in working with children and adolescents. In a developmental assessment of an infant or toddler, the child and adolescent psychologist would assess a child's social, emotional and intellectual development. She would likely administer some standardized tests that consist of presenting a variety of tasks, ranging from very easy to very challenging, in order to determine the full range of the child's skills. She may also observe the child during free play with herself and/or her caregivers as part of her assessment. (See Play-based assessment.)
Child Development Specialist: A professional who is trained in infant/toddler development and in identifying developmental delays and disabilities. In a developmental assessment, a child development specialist would help identify a child's strengths and areas of concern, and suggest strategies to promote optimal social, emotional and intellectual development.
Child Find: A publicly funded program under IDEA (see below) intended to identify, locate, and evaluate/assess infants and toddlers with potential developmental delays or disabilities. The program may have different names in different communities (for example, "Community Screening") and may include public education about child development and parenting.
Clinical: Related to direct observation and treatment of an individual child, adult, or family. For example, a "clinical interview" is a face-to-face conversation. An "informed clinical opinion" is the judgment of a qualified professional, based on direct contact with a child, adult, or family.
Development: The process of how a child acquires skills in the areas of social , emotional, intellectual, speech and language and physical development including fine and gross motor skills (See Developmental Domains). Developmental stages refer to the expected, sequential order of acquiring skills that children typically go through. For example, most children crawl before they walk, or use their fingers to feed themselves before they use utensils.
Developmentally Delayed/Disabled: A term used to describe infants and toddlers who need early intervention services because they:
- are experiencing developmental delays, a term used when a child has not achieved skills and abilities which are expected to be mastered by children of the same age. Delays can be in any of the following areas: physical, social, emotional, intellectual, speech and language and/or adaptive development, sometimes called self-help skills, which include dressing, toileting, feeding, etc.; or
- have a diagnosed physical or mental condition which has a high probability of resulting in a developmental delay. Some examples include: chromosomal abnormalities; genetic or congenital disorders; severe sensory impairments, including hearing and vision; inborn errors of metabolism; disorders reflecting disturbance of the development of the nervous system; congenital infections; disorders secondary to exposure to toxic substances, including fetal alcohol syndrome; and severe attachment disorders.
Caution: the term developmental delay may be used loosely and occasionally is used incorrectly, giving a false impression that the child will "catch up."
Developmental Domains: Term used by professionals to describe areas of a child's development, for example: "gross motor development" (large muscle movement and control); "fine motor development" (hand and finger skills, and hand-eye coordination); speech and language/communication; the child's relationship to toys and other objects, to people and to the larger world around them; and the child's emotions and feeling states, coping behavior and self-help skills.
Developmental History: Term used by many professionals for the story of a child's development, beginning before birth.
Developmental Milestone: Term frequently used to describe a memorable accomplishment on the part of a baby or young child -- for example, rolling over, sitting up without support, crawling, pointing to get an adult's attention, walking.
Developmental Pediatrician: A pediatrician with specialized training in children's social, emotional, and intellectual development as well as health and physical growth.
Diagnosis: Term used to describe the critical analysis of a child's development in all the developmental domains, after reviewing all the assessment results, and the conclusion reached by such analysis. From this diagnosis, professionals should offer parents a precise and detailed description of the characteristics of a child's development, including strengths and the ways in which a child learns.
Early Childhood Special Educator: A professional trained in young children's typical and atypical development. An early childhood special educator would assist with developing plans and implementing intervention services based on the outcomes of the evaluation/assessment. In a developmental assessment of an infant or young child, the early childhood educator might administer developmental tests looking at the child's developmental domains (see Developmental Domains).
Early Intervention: Refers to the range of services designed to enhance the development of infants and toddlers with disabilities or at risk of developmental delay. These services should be offered, to the maximum extent possible, in a natural environment, such as the home or in community settings, in which children without disabilities participate. Early intervention services that are under public supervision, must be given by qualified personnel and require the development of an individualized family service plan (see Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP)), developed in conjunction with the family, to guide the early intervention or therapeutic services given to a child.
Early intervention services should also enhance the capacity of families to meet the needs of their infants and toddlers with disabilities. Services may include but are not limited to: speech and language therapy, physical and/or occupational therapy, special education, and a range of family support services.
Early intervention is sometimes used to refer to any systematic effort to improve developmental outcomes for young children.
Early Interventionist: General term used for a person who works with infants and young children -- who have developmental delays, disabilities, or are at risk of developmental problems -- and their families. Early Interventionists may have different kinds of professional training (for example, in speech/language pathology or nursing), but they all have work experience and special training in helping young children and their families.
Eligibility: Specific criteria of developmental delay that meets the eligibility level needed for publicly funded services. This criteria is unique to each state's definition. Children who have a diagnosed physical or mental condition or are experiencing developmental delays are "eligible" for services. In addition, states may choose to serve children who are "at risk" of developmental delay by making them eligible for publicly funded early intervention services. Children who may be "at risk" of a developmental delay, may be provided services in some states. Risk factors include:
- established risk: a diagnosed physical or mental condition that has a high probability of resulting in developmental delay;
- biological/medical risk: significant biological or medical conditions or event that give a child a greater chance of developing a delay or a disability than children in the general population; and
- environmental risk: caregiving circumstances and current family situations that may place children at a greater risk for delay than the general population. Examples include: parental substance abuse, family social disorganization, poverty, parental developmental disability, parent age, parental educational attainment, and child abuse or neglect.
Etiology: The cause or origin of a disabling condition.
Evaluation: Term that is often used interchangeably with "assessment." However, in the context of services supported by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (see below), evaluation refers to a procedure that is used to determine a child's eligibility for early intervention services.
IDEA: An acronym for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act which provides grants to states and jurisdictions to support the planning of service systems and the delivery of services, including evaluation and assessment, for young children who have or are at risk of developmental delays/disabilities. Funds are provided through the Infants and Toddlers Program (known as part C of IDEA) for services to children birth through 2 years of age, and through the Preschool Program (known as Part B-Section 619 of IDEA) for services to children 3 through 5 years of age.
Incidence: The frequency of occurrence of a problem at a particular point in time.
Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP): A statement of the family's strengths and needs related to enhancing the development of the family's child, including specific statements about outcomes, criteria, and timelines regarding progress, specific services, provisions for service coordination, and dates for initiation, duration and reevaluation process.
Informed Clinical Opinion: A term that describes professionals' use of qualitative and quantitative information to assess a child's development, especially if there are not standardized measures, or if the standardized procedures are not appropriate for a given age or development area. Informed clinical opinion makes use of a practitioner's training, previous experience with evaluation and assessment, previous experience with children, sensitivity to cultural needs, and the ability to gather and include family perceptions as important elements in order to make a judgment.
Interview: In-depth conversation between a professional and a parent or family. In a developmental assessment, a clinical interview may be a time in which parents or other family members have an opportunity to talk about their child, what it is like to care for him or her, and what their hopes and worries are, with the professional asking questions as needed in order to understand more clearly. A structured interview includes a series of specific questions -- for example, about developmental history.
Multidisciplinary Team: A group of people with different kinds of training and experience working together, usually on an ongoing basis. Professionals often use the word "discipline" to mean a "field of study," such as medicine, social work, or education; Therefore, a multidisciplinary team might include a pediatrician, an occupational therapist, a social worker, and an early childhood educator.
Norms: A pattern or average regarded as typical for a specific group.
Occupational Therapist (OT): A professional who has specialized training in helping an individual develop mental or physical skills that aid in daily living activities, with careful attention to enhancing fine motor skills (hand and finger skills, eye-hand coordination and sensory integration). In a developmental assessment, the occupational therapist would assess the child's fine motor skills, coordination, and age-appropriate self-help skills (eating with utensils, dressing, etc.). She would also look at how the child responds to and uses what he sees, hears, feels, tastes and smells.
Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP): A registered nurse with specialized, post-graduate training in providing ongoing care for the child/patient in both health (well-child visits) and illness. Their training often includes significant attention to child behavior and development.
Pediatrician: A medical doctor who has specialized training in caring for the physical health and development of children.
Physical Therapist (PT): A professional trained in assessing and providing therapy to treat developmental delays, disease and injury using methods such as exercise, heat, light and massage. In a developmental assessment, the physical therapist would assess the ability and quality of the child's use of her legs, arms, and complete body by encouraging the display of specific motor tasks as well as observing the child in play.
Prevalence: The number or proportion of individuals in a community or population with a given condition or problem.
Public Health Nurse: Nurses who are specially trained to provide care, usually in the home, to families. They often have a strong background in social work skills and child and family development.
Referral: The process of helping a child or family to access a service -- for example, a more in-depth assessment, or an organization that provides child care or early intervention.
Reliability: The extent to which a test is consistent in measuring whatever it measures.
Sensory Integration: The process of how a child (person) takes in information and processes it based on their senses (touch, taste, smell, sound, sight). This may include how a child perceives his body or the world around him, or how a child adapts himself to his world. According to the theory of sensory integration, the many parts of the nervous system work together so that a child can interact with the environment effectively and experience appropriate satisfaction. Having poor sensory integration may interfere with many activities necessary for daily functioning, such as brushing teeth, playing on play equipment or even hugging.
Screening: A brief assessment procedure designed to identify children who should receive more intensive assessment. Screening is designed to identify children who are at risk for health problems, developmental problems, and/or disabling conditions, who may need to receive helpful intervention services as early as possible.
Speech/Language Pathologist: A professional who is trained in assessing and treating problems in communication including: articulation (pronunciation of sounds), receptive language (understanding and processing what is communicated by others), expressive language (the ability to communicate to others), fluency (including stuttering), and voice problems (including pitch and intonation.) A speech and language pathologist also is trained to work with oral/motor problems, such as swallowing, and other feeding difficulties.
Tests
- Achievement test: A test that measures the extent to which an individual has acquired certain information or mastered certain skills.
- Criterion-referenced test: A test that measures a specific level of performance or a specific degree of mastery.
- Norms: A pattern or average regarded as typical for a specific group.
- Psychometric test: Quantitative assessments of an individual's psychological and other developmental traits or abilities.
- Readiness test: A test that measures the extent to which a child has acquired certain skills for successfully undertaking some new learning activity.
- Standardized test: A systematic sample of performance obtained under prescribed conditions, scored according to definite rules, which allows professionals to compare your child's performance to every other child who takes the same test.
Validity: The extent to which a test or observation measures what it is intended to measure.
Since 1977, ZERO TO THREE's multi-disciplinary focus has brought together infant and family professionals, uniting the fields of medicine, mental health, research, science, child development, and education. 
