Early childhood assessment tools comprise activities and examinations that assess normal childhood development to ensure that the child achieves academic success and overall well-being. These assessment tools help specialists develop outcomes that help parents and educators maximize healthy childhood development. These assessments also help specialists identify children with disabilities so that educators can provide these children with accommodations in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. These assessment tools must identify social-emotional, language, physical development and cognitive abilities. Some of these assessments focus on one domain, while other assessments focus on multiple domains simultaneously.
Traditional testing serves as one way to assess children. These traditional tests can ask students to complete multiple-choice, true and false, fill in the blank, short answer and long answer questions that are designed specifically for that age group. However, these assessment methods are not always effective because some students are simply not good test takers, despite knowing content areas. Other forms of assessment, such as having the child create art, can be subjective and more difficult to quantify.
Some assessment tools rely on scales, especially with assessment tools that try to determine the emotional and mental health of a child. Psychologists assess the child's emotional reactions, anxiousness or depression, attention span and hearing. The psychologist also tries to determine if the child is withdrawn and if the child has aggressive behavior. These symptoms can indicate that the child is suffering from abuse or neglect of some form or might indicate mental illness. The problem with this assessment method is that while the mental health professional has credentials, the professional still subjectively assesses where the patient falls on various scales.
Sometimes, specialists have a difficult time assessing younger children. Assessments use various games that children play that test for specific development skills. The specialist observes the child for normal behavior during the play period. Games might test for memory, logic and problem solving skills. Children are more likely to participate in the games than they are to participate in more traditional testing methods, especially since traditional testing methods require reading comprehension and writing skills that the child will likely not yet possess.