I believe children should be assessed in all five domains of development: physical, social, cognitive, communicative, and adaptive.
Physical development includes children's ability to master movement, balance, fine and gross motor skills. For example, children can walk on a line or small balance beam and balance on one foot. Children also develop the skills to throw and catch a ball, walk up and down stairs without assistance as well as do somersaults. In addition, children begin to master motor skills that allow them to build block towers, draw circles and crosses as well as use safety scissors.
Social development refers children's ability to make and maintain relationships. During early and middle childhood development, children cooperate with others and begins to develop conflict resolution skills. For example, children enjoy engaging in group games and begin to understand the concept of playing fairly with others. In addition, children can tell the difference between fantasy and reality, but still enjoy engaging in imaginative play with others.
Cognitive development includes children's ability to learn and think. For instance, during early and middle childhood children develop the ability to sort objects and organize materials by classification. In addition, children's attention span increases and they seek to gain more information through questions. Children also know the difference between fact and fiction which allow them to understand the difference between the truth and a lie.
Communicative development includes children's ability to understand the spoken word of others as well as express themselves verbally. For example, children talk about experiences, shares personal information and understands positional concepts such as up and down. In addition, children are capable of engaging in a back-and-forth conversation.
Adaptive skills refer to children's ability to dress themselves, feed themselves, use the toilet, or wash themselves. For example, children learn to dress and undress themselves without assistance, use utensils for eating and can pour some liquid without assistance. In addition, children also become able to use buttons and snaps as well as can take care of toileting independently.
I believe various assessment tools can only truly be effective if they incorporate the whole child. The whole child consist of the five domains described above. As an an early childhood professional, I find knowing this information provides me with all the needed details to accomodate the individual needs of children which include their typical or atypical developmental milestones.
When looking at middle childhood development and assessment among children in Ontario, Canada, I found that the children were usually placed in a grade according to their age due to not all school boards providing a formal assessment for children. However, the school boards that do provide assessment for children provide an initial assessment that collects data on children's educational background and English skills so they can be placed in the appropriate grade level. The assessment focuses on children's mathematics and language development. "The mathematics assessment is based on the standard requirements for Ontario schools. The assessment takes into account a student’s ability to communicate in English. The student may be able to complete part of the test in his or her first language" ("Settlement.org", 2012). Whereas, "the language assessment usually starts with an interview. The purpose of the interview is to test the general linguistic skills of a student in the language he or she has been taught. That's why the interview is often held in a student's first language. The next steps of the assessment include evaluating oral, reading and writing skills in English" ("Settlement.org", 2012).
After all the data has been collected on the assessment of children's mathematics and language development, Canadian children are then placed in a program that matches their development. In addition, the assessment findings are sent to children's school to assist educators and professionals in creating a learning environment that will next accomodate the individual needs of the children.
Reference
Settlement.org. (2012). http://www.settlement.org/sys/faqs_detail.asp?faq_id=4001195
