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Universal screening and progress monitoring are evidence-based practices in early intervention/early childhood special education (EI/ECSE). Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDIs) for infants/toddlers are measures that programs can use for universal screening, progress monitoring, intervention decision-making, and accountability. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, IGDIs were administered and scored exclusively in person by certified early educators. Because of COVID-19, EI/ECSE practitioners could no longer conduct in-person assessments. We report how two early intervention programs implemented IGDIs using remote protocols that included (a) preparation of parents for IGDI administration at home, (b) session observation by program staff using videoconferencing, and (c) remote coding of the child's performance by program staff when interacting with a parent/caregiver play partner using the standard toy set. The remote protocols are described, and uptake by the programs is compared before and during the pandemic. Equivalence of children's scores from in-person versus remote protocols is reported, as well as caregivers' and program staff's preferences. Implications for remote early childhood services are discussed.

Measures of young children's social development are needed in the Multi-Tier System of Supports (MTSS) approach to early childhood. In 2004, we reported initial development of an observational measure of infants' and toddlers' social skills designed for early educators, the Early Social Indicator (ESI). Here, we report preliminary findings on the ESI's feasibility, sustainability, and sensitivity to growth in social engagement based on a large, multiyear sample of children in one early childhood program that agreed to pilot the measure. Results indicated that ESI use by program staff was sustained over a 5-year period. Program staff were reliable coding a range of children's positive and negative nonverbal and verbal social skills. However, staff were not reliable when coding the target of a child's social response when it was not the Adult play partner (i.e., the Peer, or Nondirected target). Results documented sensitivity to growth over time, dynamic patterns of change within and across key skills consistent with the typical course of social development, and moderation by children's home language and Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP) status. Implications are discussed.

Engaging, focusing, and persisting in the completion of tasks are among the skills needed for school success. Tracking whether a child is learning cognitive problem-solving skills is essential in knowing if they are acquiring skills important for development and school readiness; and if not, how they are responding to early intervention. Use of the Early Problem-Solving Indicator (EPSI) was documented by data for 2,614 children (6-42 months of age) collected by the early childhood staff from 45 programs. Results indicated that the EPSI was (a) scalable across programs, assessors, and assessment occasions, (b) reliable, (c) sensitive to growth over months of age, (d) comprised a dynamic continuum of skills within and across skills over time, and (e) moderated by children's disability status but not gender or home language. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Universal screening and progress monitoring measures are increasingly of interest to early interventionists who make decisions about the services provided to young children. A measure of infant-toddlers' growth in early movement, the "Early Movement Indicator" ("EMI"), was reported in 2002. However, the EMI has remained an experimental measure based on a small sample and not used broadly by practitioners in real-world programs. We addressed this limitation by advancing knowledge the EMIs scalability through a website and improved psychometrics in a large sample. Results indicated that the EMI was (a) scalable evidenced by a large volume of early childhood staff users in programs in five states with 628 children and 2,258 individual EMI assessments, (b) sensitive to growth over time, (c) comprised of a complex continuum of skill development, and (d) influenced by moderators (i.e., home language, Individual Family Service Plan [IFSP] status). Implications for research and practice are discussed.

The purpose of this research was to replicate and extend some of the findings of Hart and Risley using automatic speech processing instead of human transcription of language samples. The long-term goal of this work is to make the current approach to speech processing possible by researchers and clinicians working on a daily basis with families and young children. Twelve hour-long, digital audio recordings were obtained repeatedly in the homes of middle to upper SES families for a sample of typically developing infants and toddlers (N = 30). These recordings were processed automatically using a measurement framework based on the work of Hart and Risley. Like Hart and Risley, the current findings indicated vast differences in individual children's home language environments (i.e., adult word count), children's vocalizations, and conversational turns. Automated processing compared favorably to the original Hart and Risley estimates that were based on transcription. Adding to Hart and Risley's findings were new descriptions of patterns of daily talk and relationships to widely used outcome measures, among others. Implications for research and practice are discussed. (Contains 1 table and 3 figures.)

One of the earliest indicators of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is delay in language and social communication. Despite consensus on the benefits of earlier diagnosis and intervention, our understanding of the language growth of children with ASD during the first years of life remains limited. Therefore, this study compared communication growth patterns of infants and toddlers with ASD to growth benchmarks of a standardized language assessment. We conducted a retrospective analysis of growth on the Early Communication Indicator (ECI) of 23 infants and toddlers who received an ASD diagnosis in the future. At 42 months of age, children with ASD had significantly lower rates of gestures, single words, and multiple words, but significantly higher rates of nonword vocalizations. Children with ASD had significantly slower growth of single and multiple words, but their rate of vocalization growth was significantly greater than benchmark. Although more research is needed with larger samples, because the ECI was designed for practitioners to monitor children's response to intervention over time, these findings show promise for the ECI's use as a progress monitoring measure for young children with ASD. Limitations and the need for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data-driven decision making (DDDM) helps educators identify children not responding to intervention, individualize instruction, and monitor response to intervention in multitiered systems of support (MTSS). More prevalent in K–12 special education, MTSS practices are emerging in early childhood. In previous reports, we described the Making Online Decisions (MOD) web application to guide DDDM for educators serving families with infants and toddlers in Early Head Start home-visiting programs. Findings from randomized control trials indicated that children at risk for language delay achieved significantly larger growth on the Early Communication Indicator formative language measure if their home visitors used the MOD to guide DDDM, compared to children whose home visitors were self-guided in their DDDM. Here, we describe findings from a randomized control trial indicating that these superior MOD effects extend to children's language growth on standardized, norm-referenced language outcomes administered by assessors who were blind to condition and that parents' use of language promotion strategies at home mediated these effects. Implications and limitations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• There is a growing demand to include robust measures demonstrating the link between intervention outcomes and fidelity. • An implementation fidelity framework of teaching functions and training procedures was developed and assessed. • Authors can improve descriptions of procedures in caregiver-implemented research using precise and consistent terminology. The Bridging the Word Gap Research Network conducted a review of literature to identify effective interventions to facilitate the communication development of young children in hopes of identifying ways to reduce the well-documented word gap among children associated with socio-economic class. As part of this effort, we focused on the ways in which caregivers (teachers, parents, and others) were taught to implement evidence-based practices for facilitating language learning and use. Our goal was to characterize (a) the implementation fidelity, to describe the teaching functions and implementation procedures for teaching those language intervention strategies and (b) the intervention fidelity with which caregivers used strategies for facilitating their children's language development. Because training procedures are not well described in the implementation and professional development literature, a new framework was developed and its feasibility was assessed in an attempt to characterize the teaching functions and specific implementation procedures used across studies. Among the 270 intervention studies reviewed, there were 124 in which caregivers were taught to implement language intervention strategies. Teaching functions included a variety of implementation procedures, with 95% of studies sharing information, 80% incorporating modeling, 65% providing feedback, and only 18% using prompting/guiding/scaffolding. Seventy-two of these studies (58%) reported intervention fidelity, with an increasing proportion reporting fidelity in recent years. Of these 72 studies, 81% were rated as having a 'moderate to strong' description of fidelity measures, and 50% reported high levels of intervention fidelity (i.e., >70% fidelity). These analyses demonstrate the need for reporting more detailed and precise information on intervention fidelity and the teaching functions and procedures used to teach caregivers to implement language interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children’s movement is an important issue in child development and outcome in early childhood research, intervention, and practice. Digital sensor technologies offer improvements in naturalistic movement measurement and analysis. We conducted validity and feasibility testing of a real-time, indoor mapping and location system (Ubisense, Inc.) within a preschool classroom. Real-time indoor mapping has several implications with respect to efficiently and conveniently: (a) determining the activity areas where children are spending the most and least time per day (e.g., music); and (b) mapping a focal child’s atypical real-time movements (e.g., lapping behavior). We calibrated the accuracy of Ubisense point-by-point location estimates (i.e., X and Y coordinates) against laser rangefinder measurements using several stationary points and atypical movement patterns as reference standards. Our results indicate that activity areas occupied and atypical movement patterns could be plotted with an accuracy of 30.48 cm (1 ft) using a Ubisense transponder tag attached to the participating child’s shirt. The accuracy parallels findings of other researchers employing Ubisense to study atypical movement patterns in individuals at risk for dementia in an assisted living facility. The feasibility of Ubisense was tested in an approximately 90-min assessment of two children, one typically developing and one with Down syndrome, during natural classroom activities, and the results proved positive. Implications for employing Ubisense in early childhood classrooms as a data-based decision-making tool to support children’s development and its potential integration with other wearable sensor technologies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measurement in early childhood is an increasingly large-scale endeavor addressing purposes of accountability, program improvement, child outcomes, and intervention decision making for individual children. The Early Communication Indicator (ECI) is a measure relevant to intervention decision making for infants and toddlers, including response to intervention approaches. The widespread use of the ECI is growing in multiple programs and states. Local program staff members collect ECI data and, with their program directors, manage their own system of ECI measurement. Program-level implementations represent independent ECI measurement replications, and the success of each potentially influences the quality of data produced and, ultimately, the validity of the inferences made thereof. The purpose of this research was to examine program-level influences on child-level ECI total communication growth and 36-month outcomes in a large sample of children, including those with individual family service plans served by multiple Early Head Start programs in two states. Results indicated variation in programs’ sociodemographic composition, ECI implementation quality, ECI total communication growth, and 36-month outcomes. Program-level sociodemographic composition was found not to be an influence on ECI growth or 36-month outcomes, whereas state location and implementation quality were. Implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Early Communication Indicator (ECI) is a measure relevant to intervention decision making and progress monitoring for infants and toddlers. With increasing recognition of the importance of quality early childhood education and intervention for all children, measurement plays an important role in documenting children’s progress and outcomes of early educational experiences. Screening and progress-monitoring measures used in a response-to-intervention approach require age-based benchmarks for decision-making support. The goal of this study was to create a normative sample of ECI data referenced to children served by Early Head Start, including children with Individualized Family Service Plans (IFSPs). In a large sample of children (N = 5,883), program staff in 27 Early Head Start programs in two states collected ECI data from 2002 to 2007. Results indicated that children’s ECI total communication growth was conditional on IFSP status but not on gender or home language (English versus Spanish). Children’s patterns of communication on the ECI key skill elements (i.e., gestures, vocalizations, single words, and multiple words) were also conditional on IFSP status. Children with IFSPs had (a) later ages of onset for vocalizations, single words, and multiple words; (b) generally slower growth over time; and (c) significantly lower mean levels in the most advanced key skill: multiple words at 36 months of age. Implications for early childhood researchers and service providers are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]