The Purpose of the Developmental Assessment
Knowing about an important tool by which teachers and psychologists identify children with special learning needs, as well as those showing advanced development.

By Denise Lai, BA, BSocSc (Hons), MEd
This article was first published in Because We Care newsletter in June 2002.

“My daughter’s teacher says she is restless in class.
But I think she’s bored. What should I do?”

A Developmental Assessment is an examination of the young child’s growth and learning across a number of important areas.

These include:
(a) gross-motor skills (such as crawling, walking, jumping)
(b) sensory perception and fine-motor abilities (such as looking, listening, grasping)
(c) language milestones (as in babbling and first words/sentences)
(d) cognitive (thinking) skills (such as the ability to discriminate “same” from
“different”)

The Developmental Assessment is an important tool by which teachers and psychologists identify children with special learning needs, and this refers not only to those who are showing delays in reaching developmental milestones, but also to those who are showing advanced (or faster) rates of acquiring these target skills.

The reason why identification is important is because the young child should always be placed in the appropriate educational programme that best suits his/her capacity to learn. Teaching sessions that are pitched at the child’s level of comprehension are more likely to encourage compliant and effective learning. Classroom sessions that are catered to account for giftedness are more likely to be more motivating and interesting to the individual child.

Specifically, take for example, a child who is especially bright. He or she could feel very frustrated in a classroom setting that has been prepared to teach skills that the child already knows. On the other hand, a child who is having difficulty communicating with his or her teachers and friends may feel lost and bewildered in a classroom setting that is very “academic” in its structure and intention. In short, the child who has been assessed to be of a certain developmental level is more likely to be understood on the basis of his developmental age; as opposed to be being called “naughty”, “fidgety”, “defiant” or even “hyperactive”.

Importantly, the Developmental Assessment is also relevant for children who show no otherwise apparent signs of delay or giftedness. A comprehensive evaluation such as one provided by the PEP (Psycho-Educational Profile) scores the child’s strengths and weaknesses very clearly to allow the parent or the teacher to focus on the child’s strengths without neglecting his/her weaknesses.

To illustrate, say we have a child of 22 months, called Mark. Mark is evaluated to have gross-motor skills that are advanced for a child of his chronological age. His language abilities are slightly slower, but not delayed. He has a speaking vocabulary of about 30 words. He is good with puzzles, and socially, he can imitate others in play.

Given such a profile, Mark’s teacher or mother could design daily learning activities that allow him to use up his boyhood energies in a kinesthetic way through movement games. More importantly, tumbling, jumping, dancing and rolling could be used to encourage language further by increasing vocabulary and multi-word utterances (eg. requesting “I want… jump…again”).

Very often, parents avoid putting their child through a Developmental Assessment because they are fearful of appearing kiasu, or of labelling their child unnecessarily. The Developmental Assessment however, can be a useful and accurate way of understanding a young child better, as well as to then provide the right kinds of nurture for an all-rounded and enriching educational experience.

If you have found the information in this article useful, please pass it on to your friends.

If you would like to register your child for a Developmental Assessment at Wee Care, please call the School Administrator at 6836-1450 to book an appointment. Assessments cost between $650 to $800 (depending on the age of the child) and this is inclusive of a written report that can be used for future referrals, school placements, and parent-teacher meetings.

For information about the various programmes run by Wee Care, please visit our website at www.weecare.com.sg.