Harcourt Assessment Introduces Third Edition of Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development

Leading test developer and publisher Harcourt Assessment, Inc. haslaunched the third edition of its Bayley Scales of Infant and ToddlerDevelopment (Bayley-III).

Published under Harcourt's PsychCorp(TM) brand, the new Bayley-IIIassesses all five developmental areas required by the federalIndividuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) -- cognitive,motor, language, social-emotional and adaptive behavior.

Bayley-III is designed to measure the strengths and abilities ofchildren as young as one month up to age 42 months. It uses playfulactivities and engaging toys to help early childhood specialists,child development specialists, school psychologists and otherprofessionals determine if a child is developing normally or mighthave a developmental delay.

The Bayley Scales were first introduced more than two decades agoby renowned psychologist Nancy Bayley and included assessments ofcognitive ability, motor skills and language. The new Bayley-IIIincludes updated versions of those assessments and incorporatesassessments for the two additional developmental areas now required byfederal law -- social-emotional and adaptive behavior.

While the cognitive, motor and language assessments areadministered by a professional who interacts with the child, thesocial-emotional and adaptive behavior assessments are questionnairesthat parents or caregivers complete based on their day-to-dayobservation of the child's behavior.

"When assessing the development of young children, the moreinformation we can gather the better, so parent or caregiver input isextremely important," said Larry Weiss, Harcourt's vice president ofpsychological assessment products.

"Bayley-III combines the observations of trained clinicians withthose of people who have daily contact with the child. This gives us avery rich collection of information that enables us to understand andassess the whole child," Weiss added.

Bayley-III measures cognitive development using age-appropriateactivities such as counting, puzzle completion, matching colors andpretend play.

It evaluates fine motor skills, such as visual tracking, reachingand grasping, as well as gross motor skills, such as sitting,crawling, standing, jumping, and walking up and down stairs.

In the area of language, Bayley-III assesses the development ofcommunication skills such as babbling, gesturing, naming objects,vocabulary, and the use of plurals and verb tense.

The new Bayley-III adaptive behavior assessment was developed byPatti L. Harrison, Ph.D., and Thomas Oakland, Ph.D., the authors ofthe Adaptive Behavior Assessment System(R) - Second Edition (ABAS(R)-II), also published by Harcourt Assessment. It includes questionsabout a child's communication, home living, self-direction and othertopics.

The Bayley-III social-emotional assessment was developed byStanley Greenspan, M.D., one of the world's leading experts in childdevelopment, and is based on his Social-Emotional Growth Chart, alsopublished by Harcourt Assessment. The parent or caregiver answersquestions about how a child uses all capacities to meet needs, dealwith feelings, think and communicate.

Harcourt also offers the abbreviated Bayley-III Screening Testthat uses selected items from the full Bayley-III. Designed to beadministered in just 15 to 25 minutes, professionals can use thescreening test to assess cognitive, language and motor development anddetermine quickly if a child is developing at the right pace or mightneed a more comprehensive assessment.

The Bayley-III also comes with an optional PDA-based scoringassistant that makes it easier for professionals to record theirobservations of the child's cognitive, motor and language development.

Based in San Antonio, Harcourt Assessment is a leading provider ofhigh-quality assessment instruments and testing programs used byeducators, psychologists, speech-language pathologists, occupationaltherapists, human resource professionals, admissions and credentialingprofessionals, and businesses.

Through the development of custom statewide educational testingprograms, Harcourt is helping more than 20 states meet theaccountability requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The company is a unit of Harcourt Education, which is the globaleducation brand of Reed Elsevier Group plc (NYSE:RUK) (NYSE:ENL). ReedElsevier is a world-leading publisher and information provideroperating in the science and medical, legal, education andbusiness-to-business industry sectors.

Visit Harcourt Assessment on the Web atwww.HarcourtAssessment.com.