Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDI’s) are a set of measures designed and validated for use by early childhood practitioners to monitor infant and toddler growth and progress toward general outcomes. Unlike standardized measures that are administered infrequently, IGDI’s are designed to be used repeatedly by practitioners to estimate each child’s “rate of growth” over time. Each IGDI is play based, and normed on children from 6- to 36 months of age. The benefit of this approach is that the information can be used to make data-based decisions about intervention, intervention design, and implementation at reasonable levels of training, time, and cost.
The general outcomes for each IGDI are:
“Communication”: For the Early Childhood Communication Indicator (ECI), the child uses gestures, sounds, words, or sentences to convey wants and needs or to express meaning to others. The key skill elements for the ECI are: Gestures, Vocalizations, Single Words, and Multiple Words. (?Add link to Administration Guidelines?)
“Movement”: For the Early Childhood Movement Indicator (EMI) the child moves in a fluent and coordinated manner to play and participate in home, school, and community settings. The key skill elements for the EMI are: Transitional Movements, Grounded Locomotion, Vertical Locomotion, Throwing/Rolling, and Catching/Trapping. (?Add link to Administration Guidelines?)
“Social”: Child interacts with peers and adults, maintaining social interactions and participating socially in home, school, and community. (?Add link to Administration Guidelines?)
“Problem Solving”: For the Early Childhood Problem Solving Indicator (EPSI) the child solves problems that require reasoning about objects, concepts, situations, and people. The key skill elements for the EPSI are: Looks, Explores, Functions, and Solutions. (?Add link to Administration Guidelines?)
IGDI’s, much like the height and weight charts that pediatricians use display an individual growth trend over time compared to normative growth.