BOSR DCF Study Guide

Relate the four guidelines for observations and screenings that take place in child care settings.

1. Be informed 2. Be objective and accurate 3. Be honest and fair 4. Be focused

Explain how to select a screening tool for specific children.

1. Child care professionals select screening tools based on specific quality considerations to ensure they will meet the needs of the children, their families, and the program. 2. Child care professionals ask the right questions about a tool before using it with a child, including: What does the instrument screen? What is the target age range? What languages are available? Does the screener need to be specially trained? How many items are screened? How long does it take to administer? How is it implemented and scored? 3. To determine if a screening instrument is right for a child, the answers to these questions are compared to the principles of developmentally appropriate practice for the child.

List characteristics shared by quality screening instruments.

1. Easy to use. 2. Accurate. 3. Affordable. 4. readily available. 5. sensitive in regards to ethnicity, culture, and linguistics. 6. reliable. 7. have specific components. 8. endorsed by individuals, agencies, and organizations that are respected within the early education or early intervention communities. 9. Quality screening instruments using technology should be user-friendly, meet accessibility requirements, and fit the program's needs.

What are the three main reasons child care programs observe and screen children?

1. Facilitate growth and development of every child 2. Detect early signs of developmental delay or disability 3. Identify signs of child abuse or neglect

List agencies and organizations who participate in the screening, assessment, and evaluation process.

1. Florida Diagnostic and Resource System 2. Children's Forum Central Directory 3. Florida Office of Early Learning 4. Child Care Resource and Referral Network 5. Child Find

State the role of observation in screening as it relates to developmental delays, developmental disabilities and at-risk populations.

1. Knowing who is at risk helps when observing and screening children, because it allows you to watch for and identify the earliest signs of developmental delay, disability, abuse, or neglect. 2. Observation and screening can lead to early intervention, assessment, referral, and evaluation State the role of observation in screening as it relates to developmental delays, developmental disabilities and at-risk populations.

Describe ways to support children with delay or disability, or who are at risk, through observing and screening.

1. Observe and screen regularly 2. Watch for signs and changes 3. Document professionally, over time, using a variety of methods 4. Are familiar with Child Find 5. Refer when appropriate 6. Provide appropriate support during sessions 7. Make reasonable modifications in policies, procedures, and practices 8. Remedy barriers to mobility and communication 9. Provide auxiliary aids and services necessary to communicate with children with disabilities 10. Share results of your observation and screening sessions (with parental permission) 11. Provide expertise related to the child's activities at the program 12. Be on the child's intervention team

Describe best practices used by skilled practitioners when data supports further assessment and evaluation.

1. Prepare carefully for meeting 2. Begin meeting with brief overview 3. Present blank sample of tool(s) 4. Present child's results in writing 5. Active listening 6. Stay positive 7. Talk about program's role 8. Make appropriate referral and provide information

Describe guidelines and best practices for implementation.

1. Screening, assessment, and evaluation should be viewed as services — as part of the intervention — and not only as means of identification and measurement. 2. Processes, procedures, and instruments intended for screening, assessment, and evaluation should only be used for their specified purposes. 3. Multiple sources of information should be included in screening, assessment, and evaluation. 4. Developmental screening, assessment, and evaluation should take place on a recurrent or periodic basis. 5. Screening should be viewed as only one path to further assessment or evaluation. 6. Screening, assessment, and evaluation procedures should be reliable and valid. 7. Family members should be an integral part of the screening, assessment, and evaluation process. 8. Screening, assessment, and evaluation should be conducted in natural, non-threatening settings and involve tasks that are relevant to the child and family 9. All tools, procedures, and processes intended for screening, assessment, and evaluation must be culturally sensitive. 10. Those who screen, assess, and evaluate young children should be well trained.

List observation methods commonly seen in child care settings.

1. checklist of skills and abilities to be observed. 2. Anecdotal record, which is is a narrative account of an event written shortly after it occurred. 3. Running Record, which is an account of what a child is doing as it is happening. 4. Frequency Count, which records how often a behavior happens. 5. Conversations, which are word-for-word accounts of what children said while being interviewed by a provider 6. time sample, which records what activities a child chooses to do during a given time period, which is usually half an hour. 7. Standardized Tests, which are used to document a child's ability to compare and contrast, solve a problem, classify objects, put things in sequential order, arrive at conclusions, and perform other skills. 8. rating scale is used to measure a behavior, skill, or ability based on a series of quality points or a continuum. 9. work sample, which is a product created by a child that becomes documentation of the development of a skill. The work sample can be two-dimensional, such as a drawing or writing sample; or three-dimensional, such as a sculpture. 10. Documentation refers to everything in a child's file, but that word can have a special meaning when it is used in reference to child observation. In that case, documentation refers to records that help identify a child who may be at risk of maltreatment, delay, or disability; or to relay a suspicion of child abuse or neglect.

Identify laws related to children with disabilities.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

Define: Observation

An ongoing process in which child care professionals recognize and document identifiable developmental milestones as they appear, using tools such as checklists, anecdotal records, and running records.

Define: Assessment

Assessment is a process whereby an agency or organization gathers and reviews multiple sources of information about a child's suspected or confirmed developmental delay or disability, and uses that information to improve a child's outcomes.

Define: Developmental Domains

Categorize children's skills and abilities. They include Physical Development, Cognitive Development and General Knowledge, Language and Communication, Social and Emotional, and Approaches to Learning.

Describe how and when to use different observation methods.

Child care professionals choose their methods of observation based upon the types of information they need to collect.

Define: Evidence

Documented evidence refers to written data collected by the program. For example, there may be a file note stating when a child could stand on one foot.

Define: Evaluation

Evaluation is a process that determines a child's eligibility for federal, state, and local programs and services.

Define: Screening

Is an ongoing process in which child care professionals use specialized observation and documentation tools to identify, document, and monitor typical development or possible developmental delay.

Name characteristics seen in effective child care professionals who observe and screen children.

Objective, follow directions, accurate/relevant documentation, ethical, honest, fair, information seeker

Give examples of professional groups that perform each of these four activities: observation, screening, assessment, and evaluation.

Observation: child care professionals monitor a child as he or she demonstrates identified skills or abilities within a developmental domain or domains. Assessment: child care professionals refer families to the Florida Diagnostic and Learning Resource System's Child Find for assessment, which may result in them being referred to Children's Medical Services for evaluation of a delay or disability. Evaluation:Children's Medical Services performs assessment and evaluation processes to determine eligibility for programs and services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Screening: child care professionals or other medical professionals

Define: Natural Environment

Refers to places the child would typically be, such as home, the child care program, school, a place of worship, or the homes of family and friends rather than a director's office, doctor/therapist's office, or similar places.

Describe best practices used by skilled practitioners to obtain valid and usable results.

Review appropriate general information immediately prior to an observation or screening session. This includes: 1. Developmental domains and milestones 2. Information about the child's abilities and unique needs 3. Study the child's file 4. Know how to use the observation or screening tool before attempting to use it. 5. Ensure observation and screening results do not reflect personal feelings. Set aside personal beliefs and consider only facts. 6. Document all relevant information 7. Ensure documentation is correct and complete. 8. Document children's development over time. 9. Observe and screen when children are at their best. 10. Conduct sessions in the child's natural setting with familiar staff 11. Never observe or screen with the intent of confirming a suspicion of delay, disability, abuse, or neglect. 12. Allow enough time. 13. Observe or screen one child at a time. 14. Pay attention to small differences and details, because it is in those one can see emerging trends and patterns of growth and development, the earliest signs of delay or disability, and subtle signs of abuse or neglect. If signs of child abuse or neglect are observed, you must, by law, report them to the Abuse Hotline. 15. Work methodically and thoughtfully. To work methodically, professionals are organized, systematic, and deliberate

Describe the function of each of these agencies.

Test for developmental delays Evaluate children's development

Describe ways to guide families through the screening process.

To guide families through its screening and observation process, a program should have written policies and procedures; a plan for orienting families to the process; a developmentally appropriate screening schedule for each child; a system for documenting parental permission to screen; a strategy for communicating results to the parents; and knowledge about how, when, and to whom referrals should be made.

Explain how to help parents appropriately and responsibily after learning their child may be at risk of developmental delay or disability.

• Provide individualized, developmentally appropriate care • Supply parents with information • Participate in the child's intervention team • Be the parent's knowledgeable partner