Presented by: Zaira Gonzalez
Physical Development Domain
Communication Domain
Administration
- A ball, access to playground equipment, and access to stairs is helpful in completing this part of the assessment.
- Initial scores will be calculated in the subdomains of Gross Motor and Fine Motor.
- These are then calculated into a Total Physical Development Score using the chart in Appendix D of the Examiner’s Manual on page 121.
- Initial scores will be calculated in the subdomain’s of Receptive Language and Expressive Language.
- This domain uses objects and pictures as part of the administration.
- Many pictures and objects can be used for a variety of questions. For example, the same pictures used for identification can also be used for “wh” questions.
Who can assess?
Starting Points
Five Developmental Domains
Administrator requirements/training needed:
- Four year degree in psychology, counseling, or a closely related field, plus satisfactory completion of coursework in testing.
- Starting Point – where do you start the assessment?
- The entry point for each domain is determined by the child’s chronological age and will be different from domain to domain.
- Entry points are shown at the top of each scoring form.
- Locate the child’s age in months within the listed starting points and begin with that item.
Format
Age Range
Cognitive Development Domain
Birth through 5 years 11 months
The format allows multiple ways for examiners to obtain information during the assessment including:
- Direct assessment (“Can you tell me your name?)
- Observation of the child in the natural environment
- Interview of parents, caregivers and teachers
How to Administer
Adaptive Behavior Domain
Time to administer
Social-Emotional Domain
- Initial scores will be calculated in the subdomain’s of Receptive Language and Expressive Language.
- These are then calculated into a Total Communication Score using the chart in Appendix D of the Examiner’s Manual on page 121.
- This domain uses objects and pictures as part of the administration.
- Many pictures and objects can be used for a variety of questions. For example, the same pictures used for identification can also be used for “wh” questions.
- 10 to 20 minutes for each domain
- Each of the 5 subsets consists of between 58 and 87 items
- May be administered as part of an individual assessment by a single examiner, by an assessment team or as part of an arena assessment.
- Individual disciplines can assess the domains independently as needed
- For example, if the SLP is only assessing Communication or if the OT/PT only need additional scores for physical development.
- Scores can be reported for each individual domain. If all five domains are tested, an additional score for overall general development can also be obtained.
Sample questions:
• Purposely pulls off own socks (#14)
• Drinks from open cup or glass held by adult – not a sippy cup (#19)
• Opens door by using handle or knob (#25)
• Sits on toilet for at least 1 minute supervised (#29)
Q: What if the child cannot reach any door handles or knobs within his natural environments of home and school? Should you hold him up to see if he can turn the handle?
A: Consider that this is a question about adaptive skills and not motor skills (turning an object). If the child cannot turn the door handles to enter and leave rooms independently, or cannot use a stool independently to reach the knob and open the door – then I would score a “0”.
Sample questions include:
• Smiles at or pats own image in the mirror (#13)
• Imitates facial expressions, actions, and sounds (#19)
• Enjoys simple make believe play (e.g. pretends he or she is the parent, is an animal, doll is a baby) (#27)
• Sings familiar songs with adult (#30)
• Avoids common dangers (e.g. sharp knives, fire, hot stove) (#36)
Allows for assessment of the five domains of development mandated for assessment and intervention by IDEA
- Cognitive—Attention, memory, purposive planning, decision making, discrimination
- Social-Emotional—Social interactions
- Adaptive Behavior—Self-help skills
- Communication—Receptive and expressive, verbal or nonverbal
- Subdomain scores are provided for receptive language and expressive language
- Physical Development—Gross and fine motor
- Subdomain scores are provided for gross motor and fine motor
Best Practice
Note: As there are no specific requirements for any items to be
completed by direct assessment, if a child does not get
credit on an item during direct assessment, credit can be
given at a later time in the assessment process if the child is
observed demonstrating the skill during another activity.
- For example: If the child does not stack 8 blocks on request for the examiner, but is later observed to stack 10 blocks in the play center or the teacher reports that the child is consistently able to stack 8 to 10 blocks as part of the preschool activities; then the examiner should go back and give credit for the test item.
**Best Practice** for early childhood providers is that all five domains are assessed, as delays in one area of development may have impacted development in another area of development.
- It is always better to assess and determine there is no delay than to assume the child has no delays in a specific domain that was not the primary area of concern.
Examiner's Manual
Reliability and Validity
- I was unable to find reliability & validity information on the second edition.
Below is the information I found on DAYC (1st ed.)
Norming Sample: National sample of 1269 individuals, residing in 27 states, comparable 1996 U.S. Census in terms of geographic region, gender, race, rural or urban residence, ethnicity, family income, educational attainment of parents, and disability status.
Reliability: High (.80 or higher)
Validity: Adequate (.50 to .69)
Appendix A: Converting Raw Scores to Age Equivalents
Appendix B: Converting Raw Scores to Standard Scores
Appendix C: Converting Standard Scores to Percentile Ranks
Appendix D: Converting Sums of Subdomain Standard Scores to Domain Standard Scores (Receptive and Expressive Language to Total Language & Gross and Fine Motor to Total Physical Development)
Appendix E: Converting Sums of Domain Standard Scores to General Development Index
Conclusion
Bell Curve
New Edition in 2012
Before You Begin Testing
- Make sure have access to all the materials you will need for the assessment prior to beginning the test
- assessment does not come with specific testing materials, you will need to prepare your own kit.
- Familiar items from the child’s natural environment can also be used such as toys, a favorite cup, or special crayons.
- The DAYC-2 can be used with observation and direct assessment in the child’s natural environment or in a assessment area.
- You do not have to go item by item through the test.
- Multiple raters can use multiple scoring forms at one time in a group or arena assessment.
- Parents and caregivers may join the assessment and assist in presenting the materials to the child that are necessary to assess specific skills.
- The DAYC-2 meets the assessment requirements for the special education eligibility category of Developmental Delay in Texas
- To be eligible for services, the child must have at least a 25% delay in one developmental area
IFSP and IEP
- Information on the child’s strengths and needs can be obtained from information gathered from the administration of the DAYC-2.
- Present levels of performance and goals can be developed using the information for each domain.
The DAYC-2 is a comprehensive tool for infants and young children. The 2nd Edition was published in October 2012.
- First edition published in 1998
- Developed by Judith K. Voress, PhD and Taddy Maddox, PhD
- Norm-Referenced / Provides Standard Scores
- Cost is approximately $350 dollars for the initial kit with 25 scoring sheets for each domain. Additional scoring sheets can be ordered for $41.
- Materials and toys must be assembled by the examiner –these cannot be ordered as a supplement to the kit.
What's included in the Assessment Kit?
Assessment Kit
- Examiners Manual
- Examiner Summary Sheets
- Scoring Forms for all domains tested
- Adaptive Behavior
- Cognitive
- Communication
- Physical Development
- Social-Emotional
- Mini-Poster of Early Child Development Chart for parents, teachers and caregivers