Abstract
Background: The objective of the present study was to develop and test the validity of the Early Years Check-In (EYCI), a new tool that measures parent and educator concerns regarding children's development. The study examined the EYCI's agreement with 3rd edition of the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (BSID-III) an established measure of child development. Two possible thresholds were explored: one to identify children with a probable delay, and another to identify children at the borderline functioning threshold.Methods: Parents of children aged 18 to 42 months were recruited from childcare settings across Ontario, Canada. The study proceeded in two phases. Phase I, intended to pilot the measure, included 49 children. Phase II, a test of the validity of the final version, included 199 children. Parents and educators completed the EYCI for the child, while a blinded assessor completed the BSID-III.Results: The EYCI demonstrated good sensitivity and specificity (86 and 82%, respectively) as a parent-completed tool that identifies children with a probable delay. However, the positive predictive value (15%) suggests the EYCI is likely to over identify children. When identifying children who demonstrated borderline delay, the EYCI demonstrated good sensitivity (80%) but poor specificity (49%). Results from educator-completed EYCIs were poor for both probable and borderline delay.Conclusions: While further research is required, the EYCI shows promise as a parent-completed tool, particularly to identify more-severe cases of delay. Results with educators were poor overall. Future research investigating accuracy of educators in different types of early childcare centres is needed.
Highlights
Identification of delay and vulnerability during the early years is an important first step to connecting families to services and supports [1,2,3]
We developed and tested the Early Years Check-In (EYCI), a tool for early childcare settings to complement existing monitoring and surveillance efforts in the early years
While further research is needed with larger samples to better determine the effectiveness of the EYCI, current results show promise and that further investigation is warranted for the parent-completed tool
Summary
Identification of delay and vulnerability during the early years is an important first step to connecting families to services and supports [1,2,3]. Despite interest in identifying developmental vulnerability and Validity of the EYCI problems in early childhood, concerns remain about the coverage of current surveillance and screening efforts, which largely occur within primary care, and the number of children who start school with a delay or low readiness for school, especially among lowincome groups [7, 8]. There is a lack of tools and research that align with current practice guidelines regarding developmental surveillance and screening Current guidelines in both Canada [9] and the United States [10, 11] highlight the importance of attending to parental concerns as part of regular monitoring and surveillance efforts in primary care, such as well-baby visits. The objective of the present study was to develop and test the validity of the Early Years Check-In (EYCI), a new tool that measures parent and educator concerns regarding children’s development. Two possible thresholds were explored: one to identify children with a probable delay, and another to identify children at the borderline functioning threshold
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