The authors contend that children benefit from play as a form of intervention and as a means of fostering their cognitive, social, and physical growth. They review several standardized instruments developed over the last fifty years to assess this benefit of play on child development. They identify twenty-one such play measures, the majority of…

All children need access to equitable opportunities for developmental screening. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in gaps in well-child visits, and greater inequities in overall health. Young children who show signs of a delay or disability need effective screening practices so that prevention and/or early intervention can begin as soon as…

The 2007 reauthorization of Head Start requires Head Start programs to use child assessments and developmental screeners that are developmentally, linguistically, and culturally appropriate, as well as valid and reliable in the language in which they are used. This can be a challenge, since very few child assessment tools are developed or tested…

Background: Evaluating the impact of nutrition interventions on developmental outcomes in developing countries can be challenging since most assessment tests have been produced in and for developed country settings. Such tests may not be valid measures of children's abilities when used in a new context. Aims: We present several principles for the…