The Early Childhood Developmental Assessment Program in The Area Health Region VII

Abstract

Early childhood is an important resource for society, who must have full development, to grow up with quality and happiness that can create and contribute to society. The Developmental Surveillance and Promotion Manual (DSPM), a tool used by the Ministry of Public Health from 2015 to the present to assess early childhood development, is thick, has too much information on each page, small letters, and words that are challenging for caregivers to understand in both Thai and English. As a result, it is difficult for caregivers to use.  Maternal and child health department in regional health promotion center 7 khon kaen has developed the early childhood developmental surveillance and promotion manual for grandparents. While the manual was being tested on a caregiver in the area health region VII, early childhood development was monitored. It was discovered that the children were developing more normally. Therefore, to have access to and coverage of child development promotion and assessment by caregivers, as well as to accomplish more, the manual's development was continued into the early childhood developmental assessment program. The key feature of the early childhood developmental assessment program is the ability to estimate age and select a range to evaluate the child's development for the caregiver and anybody can use the tool. Even though it was created by the regional health promotion center 7 Khon Kaen, any regional health facility can use it. The developer believes that early childhood children will benefit most if caregivers have options or innovations in promotion, surveillance, and assessment that are accessible and selectable to early childhood in the caregiver's care and promote normal development.