Conclusion

Inthevastrealmofchilddevelopment,assessingchildrenisextremelyimportant.Yes,
obtainingadegreeinthisfieldhasmadeitveryevidentthateachchilddevelopsathisorher
ownrate.Milestonesaremerelymilestones;developmentisnotcookiecutter.Ido,however,
believeitisextremelyimportantthatasaprofessionalIassessthechildrenIworkwithtoassure
thattheyareprovidedwiththeappropriateinterventionifnecessary.Itisimportantthatweare
informedifourchildrenaredevelopingtypicallyoratypically.
Ipersonallybelievethatahealthymixofbothformalandinformalassessmentisthe
mostvaluablewayofanalyzingachild.Whenachildisobservedintheirnaturalenvironment,
manyfacetsoftheirbehavioral,socialemotional,motor,andlanguagedevelopmentcanbe
observedinarawfashion.Thisusuallyreferstoqualitativemethodsofassessment,including
runningrecordsandanecdotalnotes.AccordingtoAlternativeApproachestoAssessingYoung
Children,runningrecordsaredetaileddescriptionsofbehaviorsthatincludethesetting,events,
andinteractionsofasituation(Wolery,2004).Anecdotalnotesusuallyfocusonasingleevent
andaresometimeswrittenafterthefact.Byanalyzingthesequalitativeassessments,
professionalsareabletorefertomilestonesandmakeeducateddecisionsabouthowachildis
developing.ThesetypesofassessmentsprovidedetailthatcanbereferredtointheeventthatI
amhavingaconversationwithaparent.
AnotherformofassessmentIprefertouseistimesampling.AccordingtoAlternative
ApproachestoAssessingYoungChildren,timesamplingisusedtodocumentfrequency,
duration,andlatencyoratargetedbehaviorbasedonobservationsconductedwithinaspecified
intervaloftime(Losardo&Syverson).Althoughthisformofassessmentismorequantitative,I

believeitprovidesaqualityvisualintheformofachartwithtallymarksthataresimpleto
understandforbothteachersandparentsalike.Itaddressesthefrequencyinwhichacertain
behaviorisobserved,andcancoveralargerperiodoftime(ratherthanoneanecdotalnote).I
believethatinordertoobtainthehighestqualityofinformation,datamustbecollectedboth
qualitativelyandquantitatively.Thisallowsforbothdetailandprecision.
Whenreflectingoninformationcollectedthroughformalassessmentsorratingforms,I
believeitissoimportantthatweanalyzethechildrenspercentileplacementamongother
childrenoftheirageandgender.Inasmallclassroom,itmaybedifficulttounderstandwhere
onechildliesinthegrandschemeofthings,butpercentilescoresallowforinterpretationofour
childrensscoresamongmanyothers.
Whensharingassessmentinformationwithparents,itissoimportantthatthefocusison
thingsthechilddoeswellbeforebringingupareasofconcern.Iwouldalsoframemylanguage
intermsoftscoresratherthanzscores(becauseallnumbersarepositive).Sharingthis
informationcanbeconsideredafragileprocess,butassessmentresultsserveasavitalsourceof
evidencewhenrecommendingachildbefurtherevaluated,reiteratingtheirimportance.
Assessmentisoftencoinedwithanegativeconnotation,however,itisahelpfultoolthat
allowschilddevelopmentprofessionalstomakethebestdecisionsfortheirchildren.Ibelieve
assessmentinformsusaboutwhatachildisexcellingatand/orwhichdomainsshowroomfor
improvement.Asateacher,IbelieveIpossesstheknowledgetotakethatinformationandutilize
ittomakedecisionsthatwillbemostappropriateforthechildrenIworkwith.

WorkCited
Losardo,A.,&Syverson,A.N.(2011).AlternativeApproachtoAssessingYoungChildren,2nd
Edition.Baltimore,MD:BrookesPublishingCo.