Your child may have been recommended to receive a developmental evaluation or you may have concerns about your infant/toddler’s development and expressed this to your pediatrician or your service coordinator.
What is a Developmental Evaluation?
At Advanced Behavioral Health, a developmental evaluation is conducted by a team of specialists that may include a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), Licensed Speech and Language Pathologist (CCC-SLP), Occupational Therapist (OTR/L), Physical Therapist (PT), and a Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT).
Our team will meet with you and your child to identify your infants’ or toddlers’ unique strengths and needs and the services appropriate to meet those needs. The evaluation will also include the identification of family resources, priorities, and concerns regarding the development of the infant or toddler and the supports and services necessary to enhance the family’s capacity to meet the developmental needs if the infant or toddler is eligible.
A thorough evaluation will include a combination of these methods:
- Formal Tests
- Parent Interview and Sharing
- Parent Questionnaires
- Informal Observation and Assessment
- Clinical Opinion
Developmental evaluations will address the following areas:
- Cognition- the acquisition of learning through ongoing interactions with the environment, this involves perceiving, thinking, problem-solving, and remembering information.
- Communication - the acquisition of expressive and/or receptive language skills which include understanding and/or using any of the following: gestures, facial expression, speech reading, sign language, body postures, and vocal and visual contacts with another person.
- Motor - Fine motor means the use of muscles that control small detailed movements of the body, as an example, in the hand related to manual dexterity and coordination. Gross motor means the use of large muscle groups of the body, arms, or legs, as in sitting up, walking, or balancing.
- Adaptive - the acquisition of skills that are required to meet environmental demands, this includes but is not limited to, activities of self-care, such as dressing, eating, toileting, self-direction, environmental problem solving and attentional/arousal.
- Social-Emotional - the acquisition of capacities for human relationships, emotional expression, communication, and learning. Social or emotional development is based on the motivation to engage in positive interaction and to sustain personal relationships and precedes the development of effective coping skills, self-esteem, and the ability to take advantage of opportunities for learning. The difference in temperament, self-regulation, range and intensity of affect and modulating one’s response to the environment are additional factors influencing social or emotional development.