With what ages can the IGDIs be used?
IGDI’s can be administered on children from 6 months to 42 months of age.
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I have a child with special needs. Can we use the IGDIs?
IGDI assessments can be done with children of any ability level. The IGDIs are sensitive to small changes in growth and development. Make sure that children who need additional support in sitting/standing or laying comfortably are properly supported.
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How do I use Infant and Toddler IGDIs with children from bilingual families?
Follow the standard protocol regardless of the child’s primary language, including sign language. For young children who are regularly exposed to multiple languages, the coder should be fluent in all languages in which the child communicates. The play partner and, in the case of the ESI, peer play partner should be able to understand the target child’s primary language.
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Can a child’s parent or caregiver serve as a play partner if he/she is not certified to administer or score?
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- Yes. Sometimes it may be necessary for a child’s parent to act as the play partner during an assessment. This might be because the child is not comfortable playing with you (a developmentally appropriate response if you have not spent much time with the child), or you do not have an extra person who can code the assessment while you’re the play partner, and you do not have a video camera to record the session.
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- In order to ensure a valid assessment, parents as play partners need to understand and follow a few brief rules, just as you do when you are the play partner.
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- Before the parent acts as a play partner: review the administration checklist with them, model appropriate play partner interactions, have them practice with their child while you provide feedback (does not have to be a full 6-minutes, but at least 2-3 minutes).
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What if the child already has the toys and isn’t interested in playing with them during administration?
To make the toy set more interesting, add some of the recommended additional toys. Also, if the family has one of the toy sets but not the other, it’s okay to use the one they don’t have for all assessments rather than alternating between the two.
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Where can I find additional or replacement toys for the IGDI’s?
Each IGDI has a list of replacement toys and/or toys that can be added to the administration.
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What if the assessor does not understand the child’s language?
Use a different assessor. The assessor and coder should understand the primary language spoken in the child’s home, otherwise it is an invalid assessment.
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What do I do if I feel this assessment was not valid?
If you feel that the assessment was not valid, do not even score and enter. Just re-do the assessment within the next week or two. If this happens frequently, you might consider what might be causing the irregular assessments. A change in play partner or a different environmental arrangement to reduce distraction might be helpful.
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What if the children with whom I am working are over 42 months of age?
For information and tools to measure later development, visit one of the websites below:
- Preschool: MyIGDIs
- Kindergarten to 3rd Grade: Dynamic Indicators of Basic Literacy Skills (DIBELS)
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How do I train others to use the IGDIs?
After your staff have been certified to administer and score the IGDI’s, and has used the assessment for 6 months or longer, we use a trainer of trainers model to get you prepared to reliably train other staff to administer and score the IGDI’s.
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What is the cost for the IGDIs?
There is currently no cost to use the online data system after the completion of training.
For training costs, please see Costs for Training. If you didn’t find answers to your questions, you can try looking at the Scoring FAQ or contact IGDI staff for further assistance. Contact Us.