Developmental Assessment

This book presents a new approach to the developmental assessment of preschool children that can be applied to both typical children and those with disabilities. It shifts away from vaguely defined 'milestones' to what the author calls 'thinking developmentally', i.e. consideration of the developmental content of spontaneous behaviour, test items and test responses. While traditional tests are retained in this approach, the rationale behind what is being tested is carefully explained. The reader is taught how to confirm whether or not development is typical and if it is not, is signposted to the likely nature and severity of impairments and a plan of action. The author uses numerous case vignettes from her 40 years' experience to to bring to life her approach with clear summary Key points' and helpful illustrations. This volume is designed to be of use not only to paediatricians but to numerous other disciplines at every level of experience in the care of children from 0 to 5 years.Contents:About the Author viiForeword viiiPreface xAcknowledgements xiiiIntroduction 11 A developmental approach to the examination of preschool children:thinking developmentally 92 Practicalities 233 Vision 414 Hearing (Illustrations by Lorna Welsh) 755 Social cognition 1136 Non-symbolic cognition 137vi7 Non-spoken symbolic development and imaginative play 1758 Spoken language 1879 Gross motor development (Illustrations by Blanche Stiff) 21510 Upper limb development 24711 Speech sound production: articulation and phonological processing 27112 Gathering domain assessments into a comprehensive whole 28513 Preliminary assessment of children with developmental delaysand disorders and with severe single or multiple impairments 31714 Developmental guidance (Illustrations by Blanche Stiff) 343Index