When should children be screened?
Since the purpose of screening is to detect problems early, it should begin early and be conducted often. We recommend screening a child before one year of age and once a year after that. However, if the parent or staff have a concern, screening can and should occur at any time. A child may develop a disability due to illness or accident and show a developmental delay when one was not noted previously.

Who does the screening?
There are a number of different agencies and professionals who can administer screening. Early Childhood Tracking administers screening on most reservations in North Dakota. Screening may also be conducted by the FACES program, by other parent educators and by Indian Health Services staff. (If you skip ahead to the resources section in this workshop, you will find a couple of information guides that have phone numbers for all of these agencies. Hey, we didn’t sat to skip ahead to the resources page, we just said IF you did.)

How long does screening take?

Usually, about 20-40 minutes for developmental screening. Hearing and vision screening is often done separately.

Is screening used to give a child a diagnosis of a disability?

No. Never.

What happens if the screening suggests a problem?
The screening results and staff observations will be considered in deciding whether a child should be recommended for referral. Parents should also be consulted. The parent may be able to give you very valuable information, such as that the child came down with the flu the same afternoon as she was screened and was probably feeling very sick during the testing. In that case, you would ask to have the screening test performed again. If the staff and the parents decide there is cause for concern, the next step is to refer the child for diagnostic testing.