It would seem every organization serves up its own variety of alphabet soup. These soups may contain acronyms such as EDI, MDI, ASQ. You have most likely seen many, many other varieties as well.
What the heck is ASQ you may ask?
The Ages and Stages Questionnaire is a series of questionnaires designed to assess the development performance of children between the ages of 4 and 60 months in the areas of communication, gross motor skills, problem solving, personal-social skills and overall development over periods of time.
These universal, age-appropriate surveys are completed by parents or caregivers and take only about 20 minutes to complete. The items on the questionnaire represent behaviours the child should be able to perform at a given age and can help pinpoint delays as early as possible. The best part is that this process is fun and engaging for the kids.
Excitingly enough when I was planning to expose you to perhaps a new variety of alphabet soup, I came across this timely invitation from the North Okanagan-Shuswap School District to attend a Community ASQ Forum.
This information session and community planning workshop is to help interested communities organize a coordinated roll-out of the ASQ questionnaire.
Are you a member or supporter of a regional early years committee in Salmon Arm, Enderby, Armstrong, Sicamous, North or South Shuswap?
Your attendance would be welcomed at the forum being held on September 23.
Please contact Jennifer Findlay, Early Learning Coordinator @sd83.bc.ca for more information.
Don’t forget to eat your veggies.
- Tanja Carlson