Dortmunder Entwicklungsscreening für den Kindergarten - Revision

The DESK 3-6 R is based on a systematic everyday behavioral observation of the child by the educator, in which - in contrast to a test-diagnostic examination - underlying competencies of the child are inferred on the basis of the behavior in everyday life (e.g., "Wait your turn."). However, not all competencies can be reliably inferred from the child's spontaneous behavior. Therefore, the observation tasks are supplemented by developmental tasks for which the educator must create specific challenge situations. The DESK 3-6 R contains three types of developmental tasks:

♦ Observation tasks.

Observation tasks are based on long-term observation of the child in everyday situations that make specific motor, social, emotional, communicative, or cognitive demands on children (e.g., "Stays with an activity even when distracted.").

♦ Group tasks

Group tasks are used to assess those child skills that cannot normally be reliably observed in everyday life and therefore need to be specifically assessed by the educator (e.g., "Balances forward in a toe-to-toe gait."). The group tasks will be performed in a group of no more than five children as part of a role play ("circus play").

♦ Individual tasks

With the individual tasks, the educator checks specific competencies of the child. To do this, she sets the child small tasks that can be integrated into the usual play activities and that allow her to specifically observe whether the child has a certain skill (e.g., "Traces a lying figure eight with a pencil.").

The group tasks are embedded in a role play ("circus game"). With the role play, the tasks can be reviewed with a maximum of five children in a playful context under largely controlled conditions, without confronting the children with a "test situation". The frame story is a "circus performance" consisting of individual, thematically related play scenes (e.g. "The ringmaster wants to make an announcement.", "The artists show their tricks with the ball."). One or more developmental tasks are embedded in each play scene. The children act out the scenes, giving the educator an opportunity to assess the developmental tasks embedded in that play scene. The circus play is conducted by two educators; one educator provides the "stage directions" for the role play, while a second educator observes the children's behavior as they complete the tasks and records the results of the behavioral observation. The following table shows an excerpt from the circus game for 5- and 6-year-old children.

The DESK 3-6 R consists of separate versions for three age groups, for 3-year-old children, for 4-year-old children and for 5- to 6-year-old children. The developmental tasks are each assigned to different developmental domains, the number of which increases with the age of the children, enabling a developmental prognosis that becomes increasingly differentiated with age. For an overview of the developmental domains in the three age groups, see Structure of the DESK 3-6 R.

The standardization of the DESK 3-6 R is based on a sample of 1711 children aged 3 to 6 years from a total of 66 daycare centers. Stanine norms were calculated for each developmental domain, for children aged 3 to 4 years in half-year increments, for children aged 5 and 6 years in year increments.

On the basis of the individual scales, a screening profile is created which shows in which developmental areas the child is at risk and therefore requires targeted support (see Table 3). In the screening profile, stanine values in the upper scale range were combined, since the DESK 3-6 R is not designed to differentiate in the upper scale range in order to diagnose any accelerated developments, but rather aims to reliably differentiate between children who have developed in line with their age and those who are developmentally at risk.

The DESK screening results in a three-level screening score in each developmental area. A stanine value of 3 and higher is an inconspicuous or negative screening result, which suggests that the child will develop in accordance with his or her age in the developmental area. A questionable screening finding (Stanine score = 2) is the first sign of increased developmental risk. A conspicuous or positive screening result (stanine value = 1) gives rise to a suspicion of a developmental risk in the developmental area concerned and is reason to clarify the child's problems in terms of developmental diagnostics and to initiate targeted support measures.

Through the early detection of developmental hazards, the DESK 3-6 R enables targeted support for the affected children in the daycare center. In addition, the results of the kindergarten screening can be used in the transition from kindergarten to elementary school in the sense of a proactive strategy to adapt the initial instruction to the individual learning requirements of the school beginners after school entry (cf. Tröster, in print). Specifically, the following areas of application arise:

♦ Routine procedures for developmental observation.

The DESK 3-6 R can be used as a routine procedure for developmental observation in the daycare center in order to identify specific support needs of children at an early stage. For this purpose, a screening profile is created which shows in which areas age-appropriate development can be expected and in which developmental areas the child has an increased need for support. The regular implementation of the DESK screening (once or twice a year) enables the documentation of the child's developmental progress over the entire preschool period (3 to 6 years).

♦ Evaluation of support measures in the daycare center.

The DESK 3-6 R can be used to check the effectiveness of support measures in the Kita. If, for example, targeted measures are implemented for children in the last year of kindergarten to promote their learning requirements at school, the DESK 3-6 R can be used to check the extent to which the learning requirements of children at risk have been improved.

♦ Use in the context of school readiness diagnostics.

Elementary school teachers can use the screening profile from the last year of kindergarten to adapt beginning instruction to the individual learning requirements of school-age children. From the DESK 3-6 R screening profile, they can determine which competencies the instruction can build on and in which competency areas the student needs special support. This enables the teacher to follow up on the individual learning requirements of the first-grader immediately after enrollment in the sense of a proactive strategy in their didactic approach. This strategy is likely to make the transition to school-based learning easier, especially for school beginners with limited learning prerequisites.

♦ Educational documentation

The DESK 3-6 R can be used to document a child's developmental progress throughout the preschool years. For this purpose, the screening should be conducted at regular intervals (approximately once or twice a year). The DESK 3-6 R documentation sheet is available for documenting the child's development. It can be used to document the results of the screening over the course of the preschool years (from the child's third to sixth year), as well as the results of the parent interviews and the support measures implemented.