VALIDATING THE BEST BEGINNINGS DEVELOPMENTAL SCREEN IN A CHILDCARE SETTING

Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2015-01-01

Department

Psychology

Program

Psychology

Citation of Original Publication

Rights

This item may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. It is made available by UMBC for non-commercial research and education. For permission to publish or reproduce, please see http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/specoll/repro.php or contact Special Collections at speccoll(at)umbc.edu
Distribution Rights granted to UMBC by the author.

Abstract

On July 1, 2016 the Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR) will require all licensed childcare programs in the state to regularly conduct developmental screenings on children ages 0-5 years. Maryland will also introduce a list of state-recommended developmental screening tools from which programs can select their tool of choice. One tool, the Best Beginnings Developmental Screen (BBDS), is being considered as one of the included tools. However, researchers must first determine if childcare teachers complete this screening tool accurately. In this study childcare teachers completed and scored the BBDS, and trained researchers completed a more thorough developmental assessment, the Battelle Developmental Inventory (Battelle-2). The primary aim of this study was to examine the validity of the BBDS when completed by childcare teachers. A secondary aim was to examine the validity of the Best Beginnings Family Questionnaire (BBFQ), a parent completed screen. Finally, the study examined parents' and teachers' perception of the screening tools (e.g., how much they liked them). Sensitivity is the ability of a screening tool to correctly identify children with developmental delays. In the present study, the sensitivity of the BBDS and BBFQ were lower than the American Academy of Pediatrics' (AAP) recommendation of at least 70%. After reviewing possible reasons for low sensitivity, it was determined that conceptual differences between the Battelle-2 and the BBDS and BBFQ accounted for the largest percentage of differences that lead to low sensitivity. For example, whereas on the Battelle-2 a child under the age of 6 months failed an item if he/she had not been exposed to solid foods yet, the BBDS and BBFQ do not address solid foods until a child is at least 6 months old. The AAP does not support giving children under the age of 6 months solid foods, questioning the validity of this Battelle-2 item. The study'sresults do not support the use of the BBDS and BBFQ by childcare teachers at this time. However, parents and teacher received these tools well. Researchers should conduct another study to examine the validity of childcare teachers as raters of the BBDS and BBFQ with a different developmental assessment.