Revered expert authors Mary McLean, Mary Louise Hemmeter, and Patricia Snyder have written an indispensable text for the early childhood educator with Essential Elements for Assessing Infants and Preschoolers with Special Needs. Filled with the most vital information about the best evidence-based practices for use in assessment of young children with special needs, this elemental resource guides the development of its audience–future educators of the very young–preparing them with the necessary skills to successfully carry-out assessment of young children with disabilities, age birth through five.

Carefully articulated and crafted in a clearly organized way, the twelve chapters that comprise this new entry to the field will provide its readers with the elements, the research, the application, and more. A strong overview and importance of assessment in EI/ECSE begins this practical new text, as assessment models and methods are presented, and assessing early learning environments is explored. Diversity, cultural competence, and assessment are key components to the text. The authors also address assessing language and communication, social competence and play skills, early academic skills, adaptive skills, motor skills, the functional assessment of challenging behaviors, and monitoring child progress. The text concludes with evidence-based practices in assessment.