Orientation on the East Asia-Pacific Early Child Development Scales (EAP-ECDS)

Abstract

Monitoring early childhood development is clearly vital especially in countries where a large proportion of children often suffer poor development outcomes, and where government investment in early childhood development is limited. The East Asia and Pacific Early Child Development Scales (EAP-ECDS) has been originated, developed and validated specifically with children from the East Asia and Pacific region in mind, and it was used as a common measurement tool to assess the holistic developmental progress of children ranging in age from 3 to 5 years in Cambodia, China, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu in the local language or dialect between 2012 and 2014. Since then, the 85-item EAP-ECDS has been shortened to 33 items while maintaining its test robustness, and the EAP-ECDS Short Form has been used to assess children from 3 to 5 years in Myanmar in 2016. In this session, we will briefly explain the EAP-ECDS and illustrate the use of some of the items. Participants will learn more about the Scale and how it can be used in the context of individual countries.