Initial Evaluation Practices to Identify Young Children with Delays and Disabilities

Area of Science:

• Child Development
• Special Education
• Early Childhood Studies

Background:

• Early intervention (EI) and preschool special education are crucial for young children with developmental delays.
• Processes for evaluating eligibility for these services are not well understood.
• Multidisciplinary teams conduct initial evaluations for young children.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the evaluation processes used by multidisciplinary teams for early intervention and preschool special education eligibility.
• To identify variations in team composition, tools, and eligibility determination methods.
• To compare evaluation practices for EI versus preschool special education.

Main Methods:

• Quantitative survey of 1445 multidisciplinary early childhood providers.
• Descriptive analysis of evaluation locations, tools, team membership, and eligibility approaches.
• Comparison of evaluation data for EI and preschool special education.

Main Results:

• Evaluation practices and team compositions varied widely among providers.
• Early childhood special educators and speech-language pathologists were most common team members; psychologists were less frequent.
• Percentage delay and standard deviation below the mean were common eligibility criteria, but approaches differed.
• Statistically significant differences emerged between EI and preschool special education evaluations.

Conclusions:

• Significant variability exists in the evaluation of young children for early intervention and special education services.
• Inconsistencies in evaluation practices may impact service access and delivery.
• Further research is needed to standardize and improve eligibility determination processes.