Childcare providers’ attitudes, knowledge, and practice related to developmental monitoring to promote early identification and referral

ABSTRACT

Although intervening early can improve child and family outcomes when a child has a developmental disability, most children with developmental delays are not identified prior to school entry. Childcare professionals can play a key role in identifying delays early. The developmental monitoring attitudes, knowledge, and practice of childcare providers in the United States are described based on survey data. Findings indicate that childcare providers commonly monitor development but may do so in ways that are better suited to providing care than to identifying risk for developmental disability. Most providers identify early intervention/early childhood special education programmes as a place to refer for developmental concerns, while not identifying referral to the doctor unless prompted to consider the doctor’s role. Overall, these findings suggest childcare providers may be well poised to identify delays and make referrals early through developmental monitoring but need additional knowledge and tools to do so effectively.

KEYWORDS:

• Early identification
• developmental monitoring
• developmental delay
• childcare

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Based on the UW-Madison Institutional Review Board (IRB) Office’s QI/Program Evaluation Self-Certification Tool and a follow-up discussion with Education and Social/Behavioral Science IRB staff, this project did not constitute research as defined under 45 CFR 46.102(d) and IRB review was not be required.

2 Developmental monitoring methods list included: observe how children are developing by watching how they play; keep a portfolio to document each child’s development by using photos, written observations, and/or video clips; talk to parents about what I am observing about their child’s development; use a checklist of developmental milestones to document milestones reached; ask parents what they are observing about their child’s development.

Additional information

Funding

This evaluation study was supported by funding from the Disability Research and Dissemination Center (DRDC) through its cooperative agreement number 5U01DD001007 from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention and by the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) programme. Data analysis was supported in part through the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), grant UL1TR000427. The contents of this report are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the DRDC, the CDC, or the NIH; Disability Research and Dissemination Center, University of South Carolina [Subaward No. 15-2761].

Notes on contributors

Gail Chödrön

Gail Chödrön is the Wisconsin Maternal and Child Health Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities programme Training Director and Community Training and Technical Assistance Coordinator at the Waisman Center University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research and training efforts focus on early identification of developmental disabilities, community-based health promotion, and health equity in the context of disability.

Kris Pizur-Barnekow

Kris Pizur-Barnekow is Associate Professor of Occupational Science & Technology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her research interests include early identification of developmental disorders in children and emotional disorders in mothers of children with special needs.

Stephan Viehweg

Stephan Viehweg is Assistant Research Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Director of the Riley Child Development Center, University of Indiana. His practice and research interest is in social-emotional development of infants and toddlers.

Alexandra Puk-Ament

Alexandra Puk-Ament is a Postdoctoral Fellow in psychology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

Brian Barger

Brian Barger is Research Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the School of Public Health at Georgia State University’s Center for Leadership in Disability. He conducts research on early identification of autism and other developmental disabilities informed by community systems and psychometric perspectives.