Development and Validation of Child Observation Checklist for Early Screening of Young Children with Special Needs

Background: Families with young children with developmental disabilities often express concerns about delays in the identification of these and extended waiting times for obtaining assessments, learning support, and rehabilitation services. The identification process must and can be enhanced if preschool teachers have instrumental measures to detect early-stage developmental disabilities and adjustment difficulties in preschool children and, if necessary, to provide these children with prompt and effective support services. Aims: The aim with this study was to develop and validate a screening checklist for teachers to detect developmental delays and adjustment difficulties in Chinese preschool children in Hong Kong. Methods: The participants included 1085 children aged two to six years (including 365 children who were receiving rehabilitation services at the time of the study) and their preschool teachers. The teachers were requested to complete the screening checklist and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Results: The results of the Rasch and Confirmatory Factor Analyses supported the unidimensionality of the checklist, with the validated version consisting of fifteen items and five factors. The checklist score was negatively correlated with children's behavioral problems and effectively differentiated children of different ages and between children receiving and not receiving rehabilitation services. The reliability estimates (internal consistency and test-retest) of this revised checklist were above 0.70. Conclusions: The 15-item checklist is a promising screening instrument for the identification of developmental disabilities and adjustment problems among Chinese preschool children. The use of the checklist has accelerated access to rehabilitation services for children and family caregivers.