Summary: Devereux Early Childhood Assessment

Background: Tara Noel is 3 years 7 months old. She was born on April 1st, 2013, and is the only child in her home. She lives with both parents. Since Tara Noel was 2 months old, she has gone to a home daycare in her neighborhood. She is receiving speech/language services and occupational services at the local public school. A speech evaluation was recommended by Tara Noel’s doctor at a wellness visit because he was concerned with her lack of common/typical vocabulary. She was recommended to the Birth to Three program. She has a language delay with receptive language, and it is impacting her expressive language, and she has milestone delays in her motor skill. She has trouble stacking blocks, copying lines, and has in-toeing walking. I choose …show more content…
I was given the chance to use the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment Clinical (DECA-C) with Tara Noel’s daycare provider to compare scores in that manners. Devereux Early Childhood Assessment Clinical (DECA-C) is typically used by early childhood mental health specialists. I am not concerned about Tara Noel’s mental health, but I was interested in comparing the DECA and DECA-C to each other. This assignment is probably the only opportunity I have to do so. On the DECA-C completed by the daycare provider, Tara Noel score in the age typical range for initiative, self-control, attachment, withdrawal/depression, and aggression. Emotional control problems and attention problems scored in the concern area. The daycare has a very set and predictably routines for Tara Noel compared to the home …show more content…
The form is given to a rater (parent/teacher/caregiver) that know the child well. The rater for this form was Tara Noel’s daycare provider. I did fill it out with her so I could see all parts of this assessment and understand Tara Noel’s day to day behaviors away from her parents. Typically, the rater does this on their own, but this was the first time I was able to use this assessment as I am normally on the rater’s side. Tara Noel’s parents were also given the GARS 3 from her doctor’s office, and I did not want to interfere with that testing. Tara Noel scored as “very likely” in the probability of ASD with a severity level of 2. According to Gilliam (2014) “persons receiving Autism Index scores between 85 and 100 are demonstrating significant amounts of autistic behavior that limit their academic and social interactions, but they should be able to make satisfactory progress and require less intensive educational and behavioral services” (p.