Our Assessment Process
The team of the Mental Health/Developmental Clinician and Care Coordinator conducts assessments though the lens of the child’s development in context of the child’s health and development, the child’s important relationships, and the multiple parental challenges that interfere with the parents’ nurturing and supporting their child. This assessment includes a protocol of both standardized and Child First developed measures; discussions with parents and/or other primary caregivers; observations in the home and early care and education; information from the health provider, teacher, and others who interact with the child and family; and review of records.
Specific areas of focus include:
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Child language and cognitive development
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Child executive functioning
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Child social-emotional development and behavior
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Child physical health
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Child sensory processing
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Child history of trauma, abuse, separation
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Caregiver-child relationship
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Parenting knowledge and capacity
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Parental history of trauma and abuse
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Parental stress and mental health
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Parental substance abuse
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Parental executive functioning
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Parental physical health
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Community and social support system
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Concrete needs
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Need for community-based services and supports for all family members
It is our goal to understand child and family strengths and challenges. Together with the parent, a story or narrative formulation is created in order to arrive at a shared understanding of the family’s current difficulties. It is this understanding which directs the course of intervention. These assessments also enable our Child First teams to monitor and measure changes (outcomes) from our intervention.
