Strengthen your community's screening and early detection system with this integrated, low-cost, adaptable approach--your big-picture plan for catching delays and connecting young children with the services and supports they need.

This book addresses the importance and relevance of interprofessional care coordination for children and youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It covers the role of interprofessional collaborations across various settings for multiple service provision purposes. The volume examines interprofessional collaboration among professionals across such broad issues as screening, evaluation, intervention, and overall care management of ASD. In addition, the book explores more narrowly focused issues, such as providing transition services during early childhood and young adulthood, culturally responsive practice and advocacy issues for individuals with ASD from diverse backgrounds, and providing care for individuals with ASD and co-occurring trauma. Finally, the book concludes with the editors’ recommendations for future directions in interprofessional care for pediatric ASD. Topics featured in this book include: Autism screening tools and interdisciplinary coordination of the processes. Dell Children’s (S)TAAR Model of Early Autism Assessment. The Early Start Denver Model (ESDM). Transition from early schooling for youth with ASD. Postsecondary and vocational opportunities for youth with autism. Transitioning from pediatric to adult medical systems. International perspectives in coordinated care for individuals with ASD. Psychopharmacology of ASD. Interprofessional Care Coordination for Pediatric Autism Spectrum Disorder is an essential resource for researchers, clinicians and professionals, and graduate students in clinical child and school psychology, social work, behavioral therapy and related disciplines, including clinical medicine, clinical nursing, counseling, speech and language pathology, and special education.

Objective: Developmental screening of infants and young children increases early identification of developmental delay and disability and creates an opportunity to connect families with needed services. Ensuring screening for all children requires collaboration across the medical, educational, childcare and family resource sectors. This study examines the approach and activities of a collaborative community work group in Yakima County, WA, to create a system to improve access to developmental screening and related resources to all children in the county. Methods: An array of child health and early learning professionals gathered in January 2010 to discuss developmental screening in the county. From this large group, a smaller work group, the Yakima County Developmental Screening Work Group, was formed in January 2011 and met regularly to formulate a county-wide plan for a universal developmental screening system. This case study examined the work of the Work Group through key informant interviews, review of meeting minutes and grant-related documents, and direct observation. The degree to which the group collaborated across sectors was evaluated using the framework of Collective Impact, a model for cross-sector collaboration. Results: Within-group collaboration was marked by Work Group members' strong personal commitment to the goal of developmental screening, their ability to think at a systems level, and their belief in the "whole child" approach to child wellness. Collaboration between the Work Group and partner agencies involved four strategies: 1) visiting the partner's site, 2) customizing presentations about child development, 3) listening to concerns, and 4) supporting partners' knowledge of their service population and their decisions regarding screening implementation activities. The Collective Impact framework indicated the Work Group's strengths in the areas of continuous communication and mutually-reinforcing activities. Backbone support and a shared measurement system were the most challenging components of the Collective Impact framework to fulfill. Conclusions: Systems level thinking and a flexible approach towards supporting community partners as they implement screening in their settings were key strategies of the Yakima County Developmental Screening Work Group. Efforts to develop systems of universal developmental screening in other communities should prioritize funding for backbone support staff and shared measurement to ensure effective coordination and accountability among collaborating agencies.

ABSTRACT: Developmental screening programs identify young children with delayed skill growth or challenging behaviors and refer them to community agencies for evaluation or other services. This research studied the predictive impact of developmental screening results and child and family characteristics on the completion of these referrals for evaluation. A retrospective review of records tracked the status of a cross-section of children receiving referrals to determine which types of screening results and child and family characteristics lead to children receiving recommended evaluations. Records of 138 young children up to five years old who received a referral for evaluation from the community developmental screening program held in Tallahassee, Florida, between April, 2010, and April, 2011, were reviewed for inclusion in this study. Demographic variables, screening results and referral completion rates were collected during a retrospective review of child screening records and agency client records. Data from child records and referral agencies were used to examine statistical relationships between child screening results, child and family characteristics, and referral completion using logistical and hierarchical logistic regression analysis to determine the significance of variables to predict referral completion. Number of concerns was most significant in predicting referral completion outcomes. Referrals with health concerns or social-emotional concerns in screening results were predictive of no completion. The most significant child and family factors related to referral completion were child gender and race. White females completed significantly more screening referrals than other child demographic profiles.

In the past decade, American and Canadian pediatric societies have recommended that pediatric care clinicians follow a schedule of routine surveillance and screening for young children to detect conditions such as developmental delay, speech and language delays and disorders, and autism spectrum disorder. The goal of these recommendations is to ensure that children with these developmental issues receive appropriate referrals for evaluation and intervention. However, in 2015 and 2016, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care issued recommendations that did not support universal screening for these conditions. This occasional paper is designed to help make sense of the discrepancy between Task Force recommendations and those of the pediatric community in light of research and practice. To clarify the issues, this paper reviews the distinction between screening and surveillance; the benefits of screening and early identification; how the USPSTF makes its recommendations; and what the implications of not supporting screening are for research, clinical practice, and families.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all children should receive regularly scheduled developmental screenings (2001). The earlier a developmental concern is addressed, the better the child’s developmental trajectory. Thus, successful developmental screenings combined with early intervention will significantly improve a child’s developmental trajectory. The Child Development Institute (CDI) in Canoga Park, California has spearheaded the effort to provide pediatricians and early care and education (ECE) professionals with training in the recommended standardized screening tools for many years (Maltese, Aguayo & Chavez, 2011). This thesis project evaluates CDI’s Developmental Screening Certificate Program (DSCP) for ECE professionals. The DCSP provides ECE professionals in-service training while supporting community-based screening at CDI’s Early Learning Center (ELC). The research analyzed demonstrates the significance of implementing universal developmental screenings before children enter school, parents’ perceptions of screening, and the importance of helping families navigate the referral systems with follow-up. Seven professionals in the ECE field evaluated the DSCP training, and this thesis viii explores those comments and establishes the benefits of the DCSP with suggestions for future work.