What is Developmental Screening

A developmental screening is a brief assessment in five areas of development. It is designed to help families understand how their child is progressing and how they can continue to support their child's development. The screening is also designed to determine whether a child may experience a challenge which may interfere with the acquisition of knowledge or skills.  From birth to age three, children are screened regularly by their pediatricians/physicians. Local school districts provide yearly developmental screening through Child Outreach for 3, 4 and 5 year old children, prior to Kindergarten.

Children are screened by professionals who are trained in the administration of all aspect of the developmental screening. Children are screened at various locations in their community.

The information about your child's development is gathered in two ways:

1. Your child will participate for about 30-45 minutes in game-like activities conducted by trained personnel from the public school system.  You are always welcome to join your child as he/she participates in the screening activities.

2. You will complete brief family questionnaires about your child's health history and his/her development as observed at home in everyday activities. 

Child Outreach Screening

HEARING: Otoacoustic Emission Test - A small earphone or probe is placed in the ear. The probe puts sound into the ear and measures the ear's response to the sounds. Your child does no need to do or say anything during this screening. The person doing the screening can see the results on the monitor screen. LEARN MORE

VISION: Lea Symbols - American Academy of Pediatric Preschool Vision Screening Guidelines. LEARN MORE

SPEECH/LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT:  The Preschool Language Scales / 5th Edition is a standardized screening tool which screens development in the areas of understanding language, expressive language, articulation, social/emotional communication, fluency and voice.

GENERAL DEVELOPMENT:  The Early Screening Inventory/Revised is a standardized screening tool which samples performance in the areas of language, cognition, visual and auditory perception as well as fine and gross motor coordination.

SOCIAL - EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT: The Ages and Stages Questionnaires: Social-Emotional, Second Edition (ASQ:SE -2) provides information, based on parent report, about a child's self-regulation, compliance, communication, adaptive behaviors, autonomy, affect, and interaction with people.

DUAL LANGUAGE LEARNERS (DLL):  Young children who are learning their home language while simultaneously learning English are Dual Language Learners. The purpose of Child Outreach screening is to get a snap shot of a child's overall development and is not used to assess a child's ability to use the English Language in the presence of two languages. Child Outreach makes every effort to screen children who are Dual Language Learners in both developing languages. Communication with families in their dominant language, with assistance from interpreters is an important part of the screening. LEARN MORE