The Developamental Assessment of Young Children

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The Developmental Assessment of Young Children 1. Introduction 2. Characteristics of young children important to an assessment situation 3. Important Factors when interpreting Test Performance 4. Predictive Validity 5. Ethical issues 6. Theoretical requirements of an appropriate test 7. Infant and Pre-school tests 8. Conclusion 9. References Introduction For more than a decade, early childhood educators have been discussing issues of curriculum and teaching methods in terms of their developmental appropriateness. The concept of developmental appropriateness can also be extended to issues related to the assessment of children during the early years. Young children are difficult subjects to assess accurately because of their activity level and distractibility, shorter attention span, wariness of strangers, and inconsistent performance in unfamiliar environments. Other factors that may affect a child's performance include cultural differences and language barriers, parents not having books to read to their child and a child's lack of interaction with other children. Consequently, assessment of infants, toddlers, and young children requires sensitivity to the child's background, and knowledge of testing limitations and procedures with young children. Informal relaxed settings where the child can be as much at ease as possible are recommended when doing assessment. Assessing a child within the context of his or her community and the interacting social systems, and taking into account the family's needs, resources, and concerns affect both the evaluation and possible interventions. When testing young children the examiner needs to take certain aspects into account. The young child's immature developmental status influences the responses to testing more than older children or adults. Other considerations, which are
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