Purpose: Assessment tools and techniques used in early intervention settings have primarily focused on diagnosis of disabilities and the child's limitations. These tools and techniques generally are not designed to be progress-monitoring assessments that allow intervention providers to measure the child's incremental (short-term) growth. Assessment tools administered to infants and toddlers that are psychometrically sound, feasible to use, and sensitive to change over short periods of time are needed by early intervention providers and program administrators. Such tools are important for monitoring children's development and enabling intervention providers to determine if additional or different intervention strategies are needed to promote development.

Investigators at the University of Iowa are continuing research on a set of progress monitoring measures, the Infant and Toddler Individual Growth and Development Indicators. This battery of assessments measures parent-child interaction and children's communication, motor, social, and cognitive skills. Preliminary research on individual subtests has indicated that they have adequate reliability and validity when used independently. The purpose of this study is to investigate the reliability and validity of the Infant and Toddler Individual Growth and Development Indicators when used as an integrated battery of assessments and the practical viability of using all of the subtests with infants and toddlers with disabilities.

Project Activities: The researchers are conducting a longitudinal study in which the Infant and Toddler Individual Growth and Development Indicators will be administered by interventionists on a quarterly basis for all children and on a monthly basis for individual children as needed. Additional data on development will be collected when each child enrolls in the study and each subsequent year. Multiple statistical techniques will be used to examine the reliability of the Infant and Toddler Individual Growth and Development Indicators when used together as a comprehensive set and to demonstrate whether the entire battery has adequate validity when used as screening, progress monitoring, and outcome assessments. The researchers will also examine whether interventionists can implement all of the subtests with fidelity and whether interventionists utilize the data for decision-making and planning interventions over time.

Products: Expected products include materials and training modules for teaching early interventionists how to administer, score, and use the Infant and Toddler Individual Growth and Development Indicators for decision-making. Additional products include reports on the reliability and validity of the assessment battery and on the practical viability of using the entire battery in practice with infants and toddlers with disabilities.

Structured Abstract

Setting: The research will take place in Iowa.

Population: This study includes two groups of participants: early interventionist staff and children receiving early intervention services through Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act. Participating early interventionist staff will be randomly selected from staff who meet the criteria of having at least two years of service with the local education agency, are not planning to retire until the end of the study, and serve at least six children and families through early intervention.

Children who are less than 2 years old are also participating in this research. These children will be randomly selected from the caseload of each participating early interventionist. When a child becomes too old for early intervention, he or she will be replaced with another child who is less than 2 years old and is randomly selected from the interventionist's caseload.

Assessment: The Infant and Toddler Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDIs) address important domains of children’s development including: communication, social, movement, and problem solving/cognitive development. IGDIs are defined as psychometrically sound measures that monitor progress toward socially valid early childhood outcomes (McConnell, McEvoy, & Priest, 2002). The advantages of IGDIs are that they can be used frequently, are easy to administer, the same measure can be used over the first 3 years of life, and a growth trajectory can be created. IGDIs are also standardized so children’s progress (both level and rate of growth) can be compared to peers. IGDIs are directly linked to the desired outcomes and provide the information necessary (and until now lacking) for immediate decision making around intervention.

Research Design and Methods: This project is utilizing a longitudinal design. Early interventionist staff will be divided into two groups. The first group will be comprised of only early intervention teachers or consultants. The second group will be comprised of teams of all types of early intervention providers such as physical therapists, school social workers, and speech and language pathologists. Interventionists will administer the Infant and Toddler Individual Growth and Development Indicators to all children on a quarterly basis and to individual children as needed on a monthly basis. For the group comprised of teams, team members will administer the Infant and Toddler Individual Growth and Development Indicators subtests most appropriate to their discipline. For example, physical therapists will administer the Infant and Toddler Individual Growth and Development Indicators subtest related to motor skills while speech and language pathologists will administer the Infant and Toddler Individual Growth and Development Indicators subtest related to communication.

Control Condition: Due to the nature of this study, there is no control condition will be utilized.

Key Measures: A variety of measures will be administered. All Infant and Toddler Individual Growth and Development Indicators subtests and additional child developmental assessments will be administered. Information related to the early intervention provider, family, and child's health and disability will be collected via interviews. Also, researchers will collect data related to the degree to which the Infant and Toddler Individual Growth and Development Indicators are administered correctly, the use of Infant and Toddler Individual Growth and Development Indicators data to make intervention decisions, and the implementation of professional development provided by research staff. Finally, a copy of each child's Individualized Family Service Plan will be obtained at the beginning of the study and updated annually.

Data Analytic Strategy: Multiple statistical techniques including analysis of variance, Pearson correlations, and hierarchal linear modeling will be used to examine the reliability of the Infant and Toddler Individual Growth and Development Indicators when used together as a comprehensive set and to demonstrate whether the entire battery has adequate validity when used as screening, progress-monitoring, and outcome assessments. In addition, data will be analyzed to demonstrate how the Infant and Toddler Individual Growth and Development Indicators show growth in relation to each other when they are given as a comprehensive set. Finally, researchers will examine whether interventionists can implement all of the subtests with fidelity and whether interventionists utilize the data for decision-making and planning interventions over time.

Products and Publications

Journal article, monograph, or newsletter

Luze, G.J., and Hughes, K. (2008). Using Individual Growth and Development Indicators to Assess Child and Program Outcomes. Young Exceptional Children, 12(1): 31–41. doi:10.1177/1096250608324673

Sousa, D. A., Luze, G., & Hughes-Belding, K. (2014). Preferences and attitudes toward progress reporting methods of parents from diverse backgrounds. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 28 (4), 499–512. doi: 10.1080/02568543.2014.945021