Screening Tests for Preschoolers:

Conducting evaluation on preschool children is very important. This is due to the numerous developmental limitations that children may be suffering from. Psychologists have created various tests that will help in carrying out such evaluations and detect any developmental problems to children under the age of six years. Pediatricians use screening tests to detect any indications of developmental problems in children that may require further investigations. Knowledge derived from these tests enables those around these children to be in a better position in terms of administering knowledge to these young minds. For this reason, depending on the type of test and the age of the young ones, children may be asked a series of questions or requested to undertake a few activities (Wortham, 2012). This article contains two of these cases and their analysis.

Lauren Holder was a child that was in the age range of between 12 and 24 months. Various tests screening tests were carried out on her. They involved the following areas of development: movement, hands and fingers skills, language, cognitive and social development. The results indicated that she had excellent movement development. Children between 12 to 16 months usually tend to walk alone. This was true when it came to Lauren. Another area of concern was whether she pulls out toys while walking or carries several toys with her as she walks. The child provided positive feedback to both. Further tests showed that she had begun to run stiffly as expected from children between 16 and 18 months of age. She was also able to climb up and down from furniture unsupported and walk up and down a staircase while holding a support.

When it came to language development, Laura experienced most trouble. She was able to recognize familiar object, people and body parts. This usually takes place between 18 to 24 months. However, she had trouble in pointing to named pictures or objects. Laura was also incapable of saying several single words, using two-word sentences, following simple one-step instructions and repeating words that she had overheard in other people’s conversations. The language skills that enable children to pass these tasks develop between 14 and 24 months.

Laura’s social development was generally very impressive.  Firstly, she was able to imitate other people’s behavior such as adults and other children. In addition to this, she had become increasingly enthusiastic about company or other children and finally, had begun showing defiant behavior. All these are expected in children between 18 and 24 months.  As much as she showed exemplary social development, Laura however fell short in demonstrating increasing independence. This behavior should have developed within the same timeline as other social skills.

It is quite evident that Laura’s language skills were the ones that required urgent addressing.  Pediatricians in testing behavioral problems in young ones often use the Denver Development Screening Test.  One of the task involved is checking whether a child who is at or above 21 months of age is able to speak any three words with an exception to “mom” or “dad” (Sheldrick & Perrin, 2013). Such a test will be ideal in Laura’s case since she failed in constructing two-word sentences. This activity will aid in understanding the extent of her language inability. This is a very basic activity that 90% of children in this age bracket pass (Sheldrick & Perrin, 2013), therefore,  it will shed light into what further diagnostic test should be carried out.

Bradley Tompkins is another child that took a screening test. He was between 4 to 5 years of age and undertook various activities that fell under the following developmental categories: movement, milestones in hand and finger skills, language milestones, cognitive milestones and lastly, social milestones. He showed outstanding results in movement and poor outcomes when it came to language milestones.

Movement involved various activities such as, standing and maintaining balance one foot for no less than 10 seconds, swinging, climbing, skipping, hopping and somersaults. As observed, Bradley passed all the tests indicating normal movement development in the child.

When it came to milestones that fell under hand and finger skills, Bradley was a bit challenged. He passed activities that involved copying, triangles and other geometric patterns, drawing person with body, using a fork and a spoon and caring for his own toilet needs. All these skills are expected to have developed in children between the age of 4 and 5 years. However, he fell short in printing letters and being able to dress and undress himself without requiring any assistance. Both of these require important set of skills that Bradley appeared to be lacking.

Language development is very important in children. Bradley seemed to have a lot of trouble when it came to this. The tests administrator asked the child to carry out various simple activities. He was able to say correctly different names and addresses. However, he lacked the relevant skills that would have enabled him to recall parts of a story, make use of future tense, speak sentences that consist of more than 5 words and tell longer stories.  All these indicate a red flag in his overall language development and thus require urgent attention and addressing through further testing.

Another key area that was looked into was the child’s cognitive development. The perception, learning and reasoning of a young mind is very important for a wholesome growth. Bradley performed well when it came to counting 10 or more objects, having a better understanding on the concept of time and knowing about things that are used on an everyday-basis in the home such as food and money. Out of the four activities undertook, Bradley fell short in only one, which involved correctly naming at least four colors.

Lastly, the screening tests also looked into Bradley’s social skills.  This involved making of various observations such as wants to please and be with friends, likes to sing, dance and act, more likely to agree to rules and showing more independence.  In the outlined social milestones, Bradley was able to pass all tasks. This showed that the child’s social development was normal with respect to his age

In further testing of Bradley’s exemplary movement abilities, the Denver Developmental screening Tests provides more activities a child can embark on. A very common one is asking the child to hop on one leg. Statistics indicate that 90% of children between 4 and 5 years of age are able to do this correctly (Vancraeyveldt, Verschueren, Wouters, Van Craeyevelt, & Colpin, 2014). The activity can be administered hand in hand with the precious activity that involved standing one foot for no less than 10 seconds. The importance of this activity is to find any problem in the child’s balance and overall movement.

References

Sheldrick, R. C.,& Perrin, E. C. (2013). Methods-Developmental Screening: Evidence-Based       Milestones for Surveillance of Cognitive, Language, and Motor Development. Academic         Pediatrics, 13577-586. doi:10.1016/j.acap.2013.07.001         

Vancraeyveldt, C., Verschueren, k., Wouters, S., Van Craeyevelt, S., & Colpin, H. (2014). A             Multidimensional Screening tool for Preschoolers With Externalizing Behavior. Factor      Structure and Factorial Invariance. Journal Of Psychoeducational Assessment, 32(8),             699, doi:10.1177/073428291453989

Wortham, S. C. (2012).  An Overview of assessment in Early Childhood. In J. W. Johnston & J.   Peters             (Eds.) Assessment in Early Childhood Education (p. 21). Pearson Learning Solutions: Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458. Retrieved March 12,          2014 from VitalBook file.