Screening for Eligibility

Developmental screening can be an important part of the process to determine a child’s eligibility for an early childhood program or preschool. When this is the case, screening is conducted prior to the child’s entry into an early childhood program or preschool.

Screening also provides the opportunity to determine if intervention or special services may also be needed. When developmental screening results are used as a part of the determination of eligibility, screening results should be reviewed by the child’s teacher to assist him/ her in identifying a child’s individual learning needs.

In addition to developmental screening, programs may also consider information obtained from family interviews, demographic information and observations of children in natural settings It is also important to conduct vision and hearing screenings to rule out potentially treatable causes of developmental delay.