What We Learned about Early Identification and Screening

Abstract

This chapter focuses on The Developmental Pathways, Infant Neuromotor, Community-Based Screening, and The Indigenous Child studies.¹ We have chosen to focus on these four studies for two particular reasons. First, issues around early identification and screening have been identified as priority areas in those disciplines represented in the CHILD Project. These include paediatrics (AAP, 2001; Drotar, Stancin,&Dworkin, 2008; Sand et al., 2007; Synnes, Lisonkova, Houbé, Klassen,&Lee, 2004; Synnes et al., 2006); rehabilitation sciences (Lee&Harris, 2006); nursing (Pinto-Martin, Dunkle, Earls, Fliedner,&Landes, 2005); school psychology (Carlton&Winsler, 1999; Pianta&McCoy, 1997); and First Nations Studies (Ball, 2004; Panagiotopoulos, Rozmus, Gagnon,&Macnab, 2007). Second, precisely because each of these studies arises from particular disciplinary contexts, they present different but complementary per-spectives on efforts to determine the health and developmental status of young children. This chapter briefly provides the context, content, and main findings of each of these studies. It also discusses the ways in which these studies both contributed to and were informed by the other studies in CHILD, and the implications for early intervention practice and for further research.