Early Childhood Development Initiative

In Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, the Early Childhood Development Initiative (ECDI) is making quality early childhood education more accessible to low-income families. The goal of Allegheny County ECI, is to create high-quality early education services for up to 4,000 currently un-served children in 80 targeted high-risk neighborhoods in and around Pittsburgh.

In each neighborhood a local agency provides oversight of the implementation of the neighborhood plan. Families living within targeted neighborhoods are eligible for services regardless of income, and fees are on a sliding scale. State and federal funding is also used to subsidize eligible families. As a service to these families A Second Chance goes into the home to complete ongoing assessments of the child’s developmental skills. These assessments are scored and charted by Alliance for Infants and Toddlers and forwarded to the proper agency for services if identified.

Alliance for Infants and Toddlers provides service to children ages 0-3 years. DART provides services to eligible children ages 3-5 years within all Allegheny County school districts, except Pittsburgh.

Ages and Stages Questionnaires

• 19 age-specific questionnaires are available in six month intervals
• 4 months through 5 years
• One month administration window on either side (for example can use 12 month questionnaire at 11, 12, or 13 months
• Each questionnaire has 30 questions
• 6 questions in each developmental domain:  communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem solving, and personal-social
• Overall section:  Focuses on general concerns
• Foster parent or parent and professional can complete questionnaire
• Scores for each domain are totaled and compared with cut-off points.
• Low scores are indicative of need for further assessment.

Social Emotional Skills Assessed:

• Self-Regulation
• Compliance
• Communication
• Adaptive Functioning
• Autonomy
• Affect
Social Interaction