Early Childhood
Mental Health
Consultation
Lessons Learned From
A Pilot Project in Arkansas
WHAT TOOLS CAN I USE TO PROVIDE
ECMH CONSULTATION?
SCREENING AND ASSESSMENT
As you develop your ECMH Consultation style, and as you learn about the systems of care in which you consult, you will naturally develop a folder of your own favorite screening tools, and your intuitive skills for knowing when a child needs further testing and intervention will sharpen. Ideally, screening for social-emotional development will be part of a comprehensive approach that also includes screening for physical health, sensory, motor, cognitive, and language development. The following websites provide information on available assessment tools and strategies for insuring that your assessments are useful in your consultation settings.
The Zero to Three website includes a section on Screening, Assessment, and Evaluation, including an article that discusses the differences between these three activities.
http://www.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=key_screen
Note: Zero to Three has added a Facebook page. If you are on Facebook, join the Facebook page to get up-to-date information from this resource. You can also join Zero to Three’s email list, for regular updates and full access to all website resources.
http://www.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Register
The National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center has compiled comprehensive information about early childhood (birth through age five) developmental screening and assessment instruments, with a focus on social and emotional development. In Developmental Screening and Assessment Instruments with an Emphasis on Social and Emotional Development for Young Children Ages Birth Through Five almost 40 instruments are categorized by whether they address multiple domains of development or whether they focus on social emotional development. Each instrument comes with a description and information about the age range for which it is appropriate, the time needed to administer the instrument, how scoring works, and who should conduct the screening. You can download this document at: http://www.preknowinfocenter.org/ct/fps_p-71z4Wm/
In 2006, Congress asked the National Research Council to conduct a study on how to identify important outcomes for children from birth to age 5 and how best to assess them in early childhood programs. A new report from the Council entitled Early Childhood Assessment: Why, What, and How?, edited by Catherine E. Snow and Susan B. Van Hemel, finds that while well-planned assessments can help to inform teaching, improve programs, and enhance outcomes for children, poor assessments or the misuse of assessment results can be harmful to both children and programs. The report offers principles on how to design, implement, and use assessments in early childhood settings. For more information or downloading the document or the executive summary, go to http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12446
Developmental Screening, Assessment, and Evaluation: Key Elements for Individualizing Curricula in Early Head Start Programs
This paper provides guidelines for each element of the developmental process and offers appropriate principles for screening, assessment and evaluation. Practices to avoid are identified, and individualized strategies are suggested for encouraging Early Head Start program staff to help children develop to their full potential.
Technical Assistance Paper No. 4, Early Head Start National Resource Center
at ZERO TO THREE http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/ecdh/eecd/Assessment/Screening/
The California Institute for Mental Health website includes a section on The Infant, Preschool,Family Mental Health Initiative of the State of California. Free publications are available for download on the website, including these two focused on screening young children:
Mental Health Screening and Referral Capacity for Children 0-5
Compendium of Screening Tools for Early Childhood Social-Emotional Development
http://www.cimh.org/Services/Child-Family/Free-Publications.aspx
MedlinePlus http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/medlineplus.html is a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of heath and includes a special section on children’s mental health: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/childmentalhealth.html
CLASSROOM/TEACHER OBSERVATION TOOLS
What do you look for when you observe teachers as they interact with children in the classroom? How do you assessment the classroom environment? The following measures have been widely used for evaluation of teachers and the classroom environment.
Arnett Caregiver Interaction Scale
The Arnett is an observational rating scale of teacher behavior toward children in the classroom. It consists of items that assess the teacher’s sensitivity, punitiveness, detachment, permissiveness, and encouragement of child self-help.
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/ehs/perf_measures/reports/
resources_measuring/res_meas_impa.html
Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, Revised Edition (ECERS-R)
The ECERS was designed to evaluate group programs for children ages 2½ to 5.
The scale consists of 43 items organized into 7 subscales:
·
Space
and Furnishings
· Personal Care Routines
· Language-Reasoning
· Activities
· Interactions
· Program Structure
· Parents and Staff
The revised ECERS contains inclusive and culturally sensitive indicators for many items, and new items have been added on several of the subscales.
Many programs have been evaluated with the ECERS, for instance, as part of a quality rating system, so you might want to ask whether that is the case.
http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~ecers/
The Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool (TPOT)
The TPOT was developed to measure the extent to which the Teaching Pyramid practices are being implemented in a classroom and provides information that can be used to identify the training needs of teachers.
http://www.cde.state.co.us/early/downloads/PBS/TPOT_Revised_02-08.pdf
DECA Reflective Checklists
There are five checklists, each covering a different program element: environment, daily program, activities and experiences, supportive interactions, and partnerships with families. Each checklist gives examples of developmentally appropriate practices used by teaching staff to support children’s social and emotional development. Teachers can use the checklists for self-assessment and supervisors or consultants can use them to review current practices and determine areas of need.
http://www.devereux.org/site/DocServer/crosswalks-CreativeCurriculum.doc?docID=3381
The reflective checklists are part of the DECA package, available through the Devereux Early Childhood Initiative. The Devereux Early Childhood Assessment or DECA is a nationally normed assessment of protective factors in preschool children.
http://www.devereux.org/site/PageServer?pagename=deci_preschool_theory
CHILD CARE LICENSING AND QUALITY STANDARDS
A review of Arkansas laws and procedures regarding child care facilities may help you better understand how your Center operates and what standards it must live up to.
Arkansas Child Care Facility Licensing Act
Arkansas Code Annotated §20-78-201-220 created the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education and charged them with the operation of child care facilities. This included the establishment of rules and regulations to govern the granting, revocation, denial and suspension of licenses for child care facilities in Arkansas. The Minimum Licensing Requirements for Child Care Centers may be viewed at:
http://www.arkansas.gov/childcare/licensing/pdf/Center2-06rev.pdf
Arkansas Child Care Approval System
This voluntary child care accreditation system is open to all licensed child care centers and preschools, school-age care programs and licensed child care family homes. It was developed to provide an opportunity for child care facilities to receive Approval certification from the State of Arkansas in recognition of quality programming. It was designed to increase the number of children in high-quality child care and to assist parents in locating programs that promote quality early learning for children.
http://www.arkansas.gov/childcare/accreditation/index.html
The Approval System was established by Arkansas statute and general guidelines within the law cover the approval process (including onsite observation and assessment), along with standards for parent involvement, staff training, and curriculum content:
http://www.arkansas.gov/childcare/licensing/rules.html
Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS)
The State is currently in the process of reviewing Approval Standards and has drafted a proposed new system that outlines indicators for recognizing a program’s accomplishments and the quality of its services to children and families.
http://www.arkansas.gov/childcare/qris.html
When complete, the Arkansas Better Beginnings System will replace the current Approval System and training will be available to Center staff:
http://www.arkansas.gov/childcare/newsandevents/readyforBBsched.pdf