Developmental Screening as a Key Message

Developmental screening is a critical foundation for high-quality infant and toddler programs because it helps early childhood professionals and parents understand and support a child’s development and promotes the creation of environments and relationships that are individualized, responsive, nurturing, and supportive for infants and toddlers. Since infant and toddler teachers are regularly nurturing infants and toddlers in their care, supporting their ability to identify children’s competencies and potential delays and communicate with parents is of particular importance. Developmental screening is one of many avenues to gather information on children’s development and cultural and linguistic influences need to be considered when interpreting the results.