Connecting children with services they need is a concern in the face of the global pandemic resulting from Covid-19. Child Find is a system that focuses on early identification of delays and/or disabilities in children.
In America, Child Find has been in existence since 1975 when P.L. 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children’s Act, was passed by congress. Today we call this law the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The intent of IDEA Child Find is, “to create and implement a system to actively locate…children with disabilities.” There are many ways to actively locate children who may be eligible for IDEA services due to a delay or disability. One way is through developmental screening over the phone.
If someone close to the child (e.g., parent, family member, familiar caregiver) has a concern, they can contact their local provider(s) who could follow up on their concern by conducting a developmental screening assessment with them over the phone. A phone interview would consist of the professional using their developmental screening instrument to guide them in asking questions over the phone.
Questions are derived from the screener. Questions from the developmental screening instrument could be filled out by the professional based on answers provided over the phone by the person familiar with the child.
Considerations for using the phone to conduct developmental screening include: (a) arrange a time for the phone interview that is optimal for parent(s), (b) allow for the possibility for the child to participate in the phone interview because the parent may need time to interact with the child in order to determine if the child can do a skill, and (c) conduct the interview in the family’s preferred language.
Once the interview is finished the professional could score the screening while the parent is still on the phone and share results, or scoring could be done later and results shared at another time.
Follow up is a critical part of the process and should be done in a timely manner. Follow up with the parent with results of the screening assessment. Share resources and recommendations for next steps.
The phone interview is a strategy that can be used when a remote context is needed like during a quarantine. However, a phone interview strategy to conduct IDEA Child Find can be used anytime when a phone interview can help screen children.
For more information check out this webinar called “Child Find: Identifying Children for IDEA Services in a Remote and Virtual Context.” I made this webinar for the Brookes Coffee Chat series and it is now available on demand at the following link:
https://brookespublishing.com/resource-library/child-find-identifying-children-for-idea-services-in-a-remote-and-virtual-context/
