Humanities & Social Sciences Preschoolers benefit from mental health screening
| Preschoolers benefit from mental health screening |
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| Wednesday, January 16, 2008 | |
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Preschoolers can benefit when early childhood programs use a simple and inexpensive mental health screening process, ABLE, that flags emergent socio-emotional problems that can affect future school success, according to research by FPG Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The research, which includes findings from two studies, suggests that 11 to 15 percent of children under the age of 18 have a diagnosable mental disorder and that up to a third of high-risk children may experience difficulty. Yet, only 21 percent of children nationally who might benefit from mental health screening and evaluations actually receive them, said Oscar Barbarin, Ph.D., FPG fellow and the author of a paper in the American Journal of Orthopsyhiatry that explains the studies. Because children with behavioral and emotional problems struggle to succeed in school, public preschool programs with a focus on school readiness are beginning to recognize the significance of children’s socio-emotional difficulties. For example, Head Start has standards mandating mental health assessment and intervention for socio-emotional problems. “The challenge programs face is in finding an assessment tool that can easily and quickly be given by early childhood educators; that provides accurate, easily interpreted, and useful results; and that holds up under scientific scrutiny,” said Barbarin, who is also the Preyer Distinguished Professor of Strengthening Families at UNC’s School of Social Work. “ABLE appears to do that and can be used as a universal screening instrument to help allocate limited mental health resources.” ABLE is a system for screening pre-kindergarten children for problems of adjustment by surveying parents and teachers. It is presented in two levels. The first asks about concerns parents or teachers have related to attention, behavior, language and emotions. The second level is used only if a serious concern is identified. ABLE is not a diagnostic tool; it is a screening tool that identifies problems that could be a precursor to a more serious disorder. ABLE appears to be culturally bias-free in that it did not over-identify children of color as having serious problems. One study of ABLE, the Mental Health Screening Study, evaluated 4,843 children enrolled in a Head Start program in a Midwestern city and 734 children in early childhood programs receiving state financial support in three Southeastern rural counties. Head Start teachers identified 8.8 percent of children screened as having a serious problem and parents identified 15.3 percent. In all, 18.8 percent were referred for mental health services. Social workers and behavioral health consultants followed up with teachers and parents who reported serious concerns. They observed the child and agreed with the ABLE assessment more than 99 percent of the time. In the Multi-State Study of Quality of Public Pre-K Programs study participants were from 40 randomly selected publicly sponsored pre-K programs in six states. Parents identified 18.4 percent of children as having a problem; Pre-K teachers identified 10.5 percent of children; and kindergarten teachers identified 23.1 percent. Children identified as having more problems, had lower academic functioning. Information was obtained in the fall and spring of pre-K and Kindergarten and included onsite observations by researchers and questionnaires completed by parents and teachers. In both studies, ABLE was found to be a valid and reliable instrument for use in preschool screening of children who are at risk of problems of attention behavior, language and emotions that might interfere with their adjustment at school. It detected problems at a frequency rate consistent with those reported in other studies. No relationship was found between teacher characteristics and report of child problems. “This research shows that programs can improve their effectiveness in serving at-risk children by using a simple mental health screening process to identify and provide early intervention services,” Barbarin said.  For more about FPG, visit: http://www.fpg.unc.edu/ FPG contact: Tracy Zimmerman, (919) 966-0867, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it News Services contact: Clinton Colmenares, (919) 843-1991, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |