Ages And Stages Assessment Essay

An assessment that I always use is Ages & Stages Questionnaires (ASQ). Each child receives this assessment. Working in the W. Children’s Learning and Development Center for the past thirteen years allowed me to use them numerous times and have a complete understanding of each child’s developmental based on the information provided when the assessment is resumed. Starting working there with the three years old for two years, I remember vaguely when we applied the Ages & Stages to them. I am not aware of the questions being asked for that age group anymore. Working for the infants and toddlers for eleven years now, allow me to be knowledgeable about where is supposed to be. I usually use the questionnaire when they are 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14

It is very informative due to the fact that it can tell me a lot of things about the infant or toddler. ASQ falls into a checklist form of assessment. The developmental areas screened are communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem solving, and personal-social. In each area, there is a set of six questions asked. As an example, for an eight month old, in the area of gross motor skills, question such as “When sitting on the floor, does your baby sit up straight for several minutes without using her hands for support?” They are three options to answer- yes, sometimes and no. As Beaty (2014) shows us and I totally agree with her, checklists has its advantage: “They are very easy, quick and efficient to use, the nonspecialist observer can use them with ease, and they can be used in a child presence or later from remembered behaviors or recorded narrative observation. Several observers can gather the same information to check for reliability, these checklists help to focus observation on many behaviors at one time, they are specifically useful for curriculum planning for individuals”(p.45). ASQ is highly reliable because it can be checked by others. As an example, we hand parents a copy of the ASQ according to their child’s age so they can complete, and then parents and teachers discuss if there is any answer(s) that do not match with ours. It has high validity also when as an example, the ASQ has a question for a nine month old baby in the

A copy of the Ages & Stages is given to the parent with their child’s result ASQ. If there is an area or areas that need to be strengthened, we created an Individual Learning Plan to help the child reach his potential. When a weakness is observed in an area, we work with the child on those specific goals. We will observe and document the child’s progress. Parents are asked to provide a 1” binder and clear sheet protectors in order to build a portfolio of the child’s progressive work and parents are welcome to review their child’s portfolio at any time. Usually, when the children are fourteen months, they are sent to the next classroom. If they are not ready in some area or areas, there might be some delays in advancing them to the next classroom. In the meantime, we work with the child to overcome the weakness is having. We work with the child in each age intervals by reinforcing an activity related to the weakness he is having in a particular area of development that will put him/her where he/she supposed to be for his/her