Diagnostic Assessments

"At its core, a diagnostic assessment is a detailed investigation of children's strengths and skill gaps that permits targeted intervention." (Howard, V. F., & Aiken, E., 2015, p. 282). Informal diagnostics assessments can and should be developed by professionals who work with young children. This allows them to observe how and what the child is learning so they can make informed decisions about how to help the child. One way to do this is by developing a learning activity that allows you to determine where the child is struggling with a particular skill. "Diagnostic assessments fall into two types: informal or teacher developed, and formal standardized instruments, which are professionally developed and commercially available." (Howard, V. F., & Aiken, E., 2015, p. 282) For this discussion we will be focusing on the informal, or teacher developed, diagnostic assessments.

To begin, choose a child from Developmental Checklists Birth to Five. This must be a different child than the one you chose for your Week 3 assignment. Once you have chosen a child, you will need to identify an area of need for the child based on the checklist. Then, include the following as your initial discussion post:

• Based on your own observation, identify the child's perceived area of need based on the checklist.

• Describe an activity you would do with the child based on the child's area of need. Include enough detail so that someone else could repeat the activity on their own. (e.g., If you use the checklist for 12- to 24-month-olds and it states that they cannot sort shapes or colors, your activity would contain elements such as naming colors and shapes, identifying colors and shapes, and finding examples of shapes. From completing these activities, you would be able to determine where the child's struggles are with sorting shapes and colors).

• Explain how using this activity would allow you to be able to determine the child's specific struggles in this area of need. Be specific.

• Discuss how you used your knowledge of developmental milestones to assist you in creating this informal diagnostic assessment activity.

Guided Response: Review several of your classmates' posts and respond to at least two of your peers

Respectfully provide feedback to your peer regarding the activity they shared. Provide suggestions for materials or further activity ideas that might help to address this need as well.

Though two replies is the basic expectation, for deeper engagement and learning you are encouraged to provide responses to any comments or questions others have given to you. Remember, continuing to engage with peers and the instructor will further the conversation and provide you with opportunities to demonstrate your content expertise, critical thinking, and real-world experiences with this topic.