Little is known about appropriate diagnostic approaches or the developmental course of mental health problems in children under 3 years of age.
There is significant need for research on level of impairment as a step toward supporting reliable systematic clinical decision-making and determination of treatment needs in children under 3-years of age.
What does impairment look like in an infant or toddler?
(Carter, Briggs-Gowan, Davis, 2004)
- Difficulty in forming and maintaining relationships
- Difficulty with regulation and interest in the world
- Difficulty with communication,
- Difficulty with behavioral organization
- Difficulty with problem solving and representational capacity
Purpose:
The ultimate goal of this project is to evaluate and revise an existing research based, observational measure of child social and emotional functioning, the Functional Emotional Assessment Scale (FEAS) as a measure of impairment.
For this study, we hope to:
- Explore the criteria needed for a useful and appropriate measure of impairment for infants
- Explore what coding instruments are currently available , with emphasis on the Functional Emotional Assessment Scale
- Test reliability and validity of a revised version of the FEAS using existing data from two existing data sets
Study Timeline
Available Assessments for Infants and Toddlers
