Preschool Communication: Early Identification of Concerns About Preschool Language Development and Social Participation

Background: Adverse communication development in preschool children is a risk factor influencing child health and well-being with a negative impact on social participation. Language and social skills develop and maintain human adaptability over the life course. However, the accuracy of detecting language problems in asymptomatic children in primary care needs to be improved. Therefore, it is important to identify concerns about language development as a risk factor for child health. The association between parental and professional caregivers' concerns about language development and the level of preschool social participation was assessed, as well as the possible mediating/moderating effect of the perception of social competence. In addition, validity and predictive value of parental and professional caregivers' concerns about language development were tested.Methods: To identify emerging concerns about development and social participation, a community sample of 341 preschool children was systematically assessed with a comprehensive preventive child health care “toolkit” of instruments, including parent-completed tools like the Parents' Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS) and child competence Visual Analog Scales (VAS). At baseline, children were aged 3 years and at follow-up ~4 years.Results: There was a statistically significant association between parental and professional caregivers' concerns about language development and the level of preschool social participation, with a mediating effect of child social competence at the age of 3 years as well as 4 years. Negative predictive value of parental and professional caregiver language concerns at the age of 3 and 4 years were 99 and 97%, respectively. Furthermore, this article showed that while some preschool children grow out of language problems, others may develop them.Conclusion: Short but valid pediatric primary care tools like the PEDS and child competence VAS can support monitoring and early identification of concerns about language development and social competence as a risk factor for preschool social participation. Personalized health care requires continued communication between parents, professional caregivers and preventive child health care about parental and professional caregiver perceptions concerning preschool language development as well as the perception of a child's social competence.

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Validation of short instruments assessing parental and caregivers’ perceptions on child health and development for personalized prevention

Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry ◽

10.1177/1359104518822673 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

pp. 608-630

Author(s):

Bernice Doove ◽

Jolien Feron ◽

Frans Feron ◽

Jim van Os ◽

Marjan Drukker

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Child Health ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Predictive Accuracy ◽

Reliability And Validity ◽

High Sensitivity ◽

Child Behaviour ◽

Index Test ◽

Child Competence ◽

Preventive Child Health Care

Systematically exploring parental as well as other caregivers’ concerns is a main component in preventive child health care (PCHC) for family-centred practice and personalized health care. To facilitate communication and early identification of emerging mental health problems, a PCHC toolkit based on short instruments was developed. This article investigates the reliability and validity of (1) two visual analogue scales (VAS) to assess parent-reported ‘parenting’ and ‘child behaviour’, (2) a professional caregiver-reported VAS to assess ‘child competence’ and (3) the parents’ evaluation of developmental status (PEDS) in Dutch PCHC. Parents as well as child care, kindergarten and preschool teachers completed instruments in a community-based sample of children ( N = 346) aged 3 years at baseline. The three VAS and PEDS were associated with standardized questionnaires assessing the same constructs. Overall predictive accuracy showed: good to excellent for ‘parenting’ VAS, fair to good for ‘child behaviour’ VAS and poor for ‘child competence’ VAS. The PEDS, ‘parenting’ VAS and ‘child behaviour’ VAS, demonstrated high sensitivity at various cut-off points of index test and reference standard. At follow-up, approximately 1 year later, results were similar. Although the ‘child competence’ VAS scored lower on one aspect of validity, the PEDS and the different VAS are reliable, valid and useful as brief monitoring tools in daily Dutch PCHC practice.

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Identification and Management of Psychosocial Problems by Preventive Child Health Care

Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine ◽

10.1001/archpedi.155.4.462 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 155 (4) ◽

pp. 462 ◽

Cited By ~ 85

Author(s):

Emily Brugman ◽

Sijmen A. Reijneveld ◽

Frank C. Verhulst ◽

S. Pauline Verloove-Vanhorick

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Child Health ◽

Psychosocial Problems ◽

Child Health Care ◽

Preventive Child Health Care

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A comparison of four scoring methods based on the parent-rated Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire as used in the Dutch preventive child health care system

BMC Public Health ◽

10.1186/1471-2458-8-106 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 60

Author(s):

Mathilde R Crone ◽

Anton GC Vogels ◽

Femke Hoekstra ◽

Philip DA Treffers ◽

Sijmen A Reijneveld

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Child Health ◽

Health Care System ◽

Strengths And Difficulties Questionnaire ◽

Child Health Care ◽

Scoring Methods ◽

Preventive Child Health Care ◽

Strengths And Difficulties ◽

Care System

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Costs and effects of conventional vision screening and photoscreening in the Dutch preventive child health care system

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckaa098 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Catharina P B Van der Ploeg ◽

Manon Grevinga ◽

Iris Eekhout ◽

Eline Vlasblom ◽

Caren I Lanting ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Child Health ◽

Population Based ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Child Health Care ◽

Test Duration ◽

Vision Screening ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Number Of Children ◽

Preventive Child Health Care

Abstract Background Little is known about costs and effects of vision screening strategies to detect amblyopia. Aim of this study was to compare costs and effects of conventional (optotype) vision screening, photoscreening or a combination in children aged 3–6 years. Methods Population-based, cross-sectional study in preventive child health care in The Hague. Children aged 3 years (3y), 3 years and 9 months (3y9m) or 5–6 years (5/6y) received the conventional chart vision screening and a test with a photoscreener (Plusoptix S12C). Costs were based on test duration and additional costs for devices and diagnostic work-up. Results Two thousand, one hundred and forty-four children were included. The estimated costs per child screened were €17.44, €20.37 and €6.90 for conventional vision screening at 3y, 3y9m and 5/6y, respectively. For photoscreening, these estimates were €6.61, €7.52 and €9.40 and for photoscreening followed by vision screening if the result was unclear (combination) €9.32 (3y) and €9.33 (3y9m). The number of children detected with amblyopia by age were 9, 14 and 5 (conventional screening), 6, 13 and 3 (photoscreening) and 10 (3y) and 15 (3y9m) (combination), respectively. The estimated costs per child diagnosed with amblyopia were €1500, €1050 and €860 for conventional vision screening, €860, €420 and €1940 for photoscreening and €730 (3y) and €450 (3y9m) for the combination. Conclusions Combining photoscreening with vision screening seems promising to detect amblyopia in children aged 3y/3y9m, whereas conventional screening seems preferable at 5/6y. As the number of study children with amblyopia is small, further research on the effects of these screening alternatives in detecting children with amblyopia is recommended.

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