162
Posters Advancing Comprehensive Early Childhood Intervention
Session 2
ECI SERVICE DELIVERY Topic - Screening, Assessment, Identification, Referral
p2.29 DAUCO Test: A New Software for Early Childhood Assessment and Intervention Presenting Author: Araceli Sanchez-Raya (Spain)
p2.30 Early Childhood Intervention Referrals from a Portuguese Secondary Hospital Presenting Author: Mariana Andrade (Portugal) Affiliation: Pediatrics Department, ULS São João Co-Authors: Sara Monsanto, Isabel Soares, Susana Sousa Pediatricians have an important role in referring children with developmental delay, functional/structural limitations or biologic/environmental risk factors for Early Childhood Intervention (ECI). This study aims to describe ECI referrals from a secondary hospital in Portugal. Retrospective study including children referred to ECI from a Portuguese secondary hospital, January 2012 - November 2024. 950 children referred, average 79.2/year, 64.5% males, mean age 2.0 years. 80.2% had developmental delay; 18.1% had functional/structural limitations; 16.1% had biologic and 10.4% environmental risk factors. 24.6% had ≥1 criteria; 21.1% had development delay plus ≥1 criteria. The number of referrals for developmental delay has been increasing since 2020. One out of 5 children had developmental delay associated to specific conditions and/or identifiable risk factors, meaning intervention could have started sooner. Special attention should be paid to the development of children born since the COVID-19 pandemic. The growing number of referrals calls for more support and reinforcement of ECI teams. Development evaluation is carried out by combining different procedures such as interviews, observation, questionnaires and scales. Most development scales, despite their widespread use, show important metric weaknesses and few validation studies. The objective of this study was to build and validate the DAUCO development scale intended for children under 84 months of age based on the integrated analysis of the most used scales in this area. TCT, TRI, CFA analysis and data adjustment to the model were applied in a sample of 638 Spanish children. The subscales present good reliability, validity and fit of the data to the model, overcoming some limitations of the predecessor scales. The integrative analysis of the most important scales carried out to create DAUCO represents progress, improving its metrics, applicability and facilitating the design of subsequent intervention proposals. Affiliation: University of Córdoba; Early Childhood Intervention Center UCO; IMIBIC Health Research Institute Co-Authors: Adoración Antolí, Eduardo Martínez-Gual, Juan Antonio Moriana, Carolina Pérez-Dueñas, Sara María Luque de Dios p2.31 Early Identification of Young Children With Delays and Disabilities: Research Findings and Recommended Practices This presentation will describe four studies conducted by our U.S.-based research team on the early identification of young children with potential delays, disabilities, and early mental health issues in the U.S. We will present the purpose, methods, and findings of each study that included early childhood intervention personnel from all regions of the U.S. who conduct initial evaluations for early intervention and preschool special education. Discussion will focus on research to practice issues in the use of recommendations for identifying young children with potential delays or disabilities, including the use of authentic assessment alongside standardized tools, culturally and linguistically responsive evaluation practices, involving families in the evaluation, and utilizing the referral and evaluation process as an opportunity to capture early social-emotional difficulties. The implications and recommendations of our findings for global contexts will be explored. p2.32 Early Intervention Referral and Enrollment for Children With Diagnosed Medical Conditions Presenting Author: Jane Squires (USA) Affiliation: University of Oregon Co-Authors: Asha Yadav Research shows that only about 10% of children eligible for Part C Early Intervention (EI) services enroll, with low participation even among those with established medical conditions. Barriers include families declining services, unclear referral communication, and inadequate information exchange between EI personnel and pediatricians (Jimenez et al., 2012; Little et al., 2015; Lipkin et al., 2020). Despite these barriers, limited research exists on EI enrollment pathways. While pediatricians and EI personnel play vital roles in facilitating EI referrals, gaps remain in understanding the referral system from their perspectives. This poster presents three research papers examining EI referral and enrollment for children with established conditions, based on a mixed-methods study involving surveys from 193 EI personnel and 69 pediatricians, as well as interview data from 45 EI personnel and 22 pediatricians in Michigan and Washington. Presenting Author: Elizabeth A. Steed (USA) Affiliation: University of Colorado Denver Co-Authors: Heidi L. Burke, Renee Charlifue-Smith, Rachel Stein
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