Using IGDIs: Monitoring Progress and Improving Intervention for Infants and Young Children

As more and more early childhood programs implement response to intervention, the Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDIs) will be the tool of choice for fast, reliable, and ongoing progress monitoring. That's why every program needs this book, the only quick guide to conducting the popular IGDIs accurately and efficiently.

Bringing complete information on the IGDIs together in one convenient, expertly organized volume, this book gives early childhood professionals specific, in-depth guidance on understanding and using all five of the IGDI tools: communication, cognitive problem solving, early movement, social development, and parent-child interaction. With this comprehensive manual, readers will be able to

• administer semistructured, play-based IGDI sessions with all young children, including children with special needs or those who have English as a second language
• easily work the IGDIs into existing programs and intervention formats
• score the IGDIs accurately with clear instructions and examples of filled-in forms
• interpret results to inform intervention and quickly determine when adjustments need to be made
• learn how the IGDIs align with AERA Educational Testing Standards, Progress Monitoring Measurement Standards, and DEC Recommended Assessment Practices
• get detailed technical data on validity and reliability

This book also helps early childhood professionals deepen their knowledge of child development in each of the five critical areas the IGDIs cover. They'll get concise, research-based summaries of what we know about how children develop skills in each area, how those skills affect broader child outcomes, and how the IGDI tools were custom-developed to screen each area effectively and detect small increments of progress.

A must for all infant-toddler and preschool specialists, this book will be in constant use in Early Head Start and Part C programs across the country. Professionals will keep this one-and-only guide to IGDI administration close at hand as they track progress, target interventions, and ensure measurable improvements in child outcomes.

Dr. Buzhardt is currently an assistant research professor at the University of Kansas, Juniper Gardens Children's Project. His interests focus on identifying factors that affect the implementation and effectiveness of technology-based intervention, assessment, and training. Since obtaining his doctoral degree in child development in 2002, Dr. Buzhardt has directed and co-directed several federally funded research projects from NIH, IES, OSEP, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, and local foundations. Some examples of his work include the development and experimental evaluation of web-based progress monitoring and decision-making tools for early childhood service providers (described in this volume), the Online and Applied System for Intervention Skills (OASIS) distance training program to teach applied behavior analysis therapy to parents of young children with autism, a web-based foster parent training program, and technology-enhanced in-service professional development and coaching for K-8 teachers. Leveraging technology to streamline early intervention and data-based decision making for early childhood service providers is at the heart of his work with Infant-Toddler IGDIs. In addition to his research and development efforts at Juniper Gardens, his work with Integrated Behavioral Technologies, a nonprofit organization that serves children with disabilities, focuses on developing and maintaining sustainable web-based training solutions for paraprofessionals who provide in-home therapy for children with autism.

Judith J. Carta, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist in the Institute for Life Span Studies, Professor of Special Education, and the Interim Director of the Juniper Gardens Children's Project at the University of Kansas. Her research focuses on developing strategies to minimize the effects of poverty on children's outcomes, designing practices that teachers and parents can use to promote children's early learning and social-emotional development, methods for monitoring the progress of young children, and strategies for promoting family engagement in early intervention programs. She has been the PI of several multi-site research projects and centers funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Institute of Educational Sciences, and the Administration on Children and Families. She currently co-directs an IES-funded project to develop the Infant-Toddler Pyramid Model, a three-tiered model to promote social-emotional outcomes for infants and toddlers, based on the TPITOS. She was a member of the Federal Advisory Panel on Head Start Research and Evaluation, Division of Early Childhoodâ (TM)s Commission on Recommended Practices, and served as the Editor of Topics in Early Childhood Special Education as well as the boards of numerous scientific journals. She received the Mary E. McEvoy Service to the Field Award from the Division for Early Childhood.

Dr. Greenwood is the Director of the Juniper Gardens Childrenâ (TM)s Project and Professor of Applied Behavioral Science at the University of Kansas. He is a founding author of progress monitoring measures for infants and toddlers and editor of School-Wide Prevention Models: Lessons Learned in Elementary Schools (Guilford Press, 2008). He is co-principal investigator of the Center for Response to Intervention in Early Childhood (CRTIEC). He has more than 100 publications in peerreviewed journals to his credit. Under his leadership, the Juniper Gardens Childrenâ (TM)s Project was awarded the 1996 research award of the Council for Exceptional Children for its contributions to interventions for children with special needs. He was the recipient of the 2009 Higuchi Research Achievement Award in Applied Science at the University of Kansas.

Scott R. McConnell, Ph.D., is Scott McConnell is Professor of Educational Psychology and Fesler-Lampert Chair in Urban and Regional Affairs at the University of Minnesota. His research focuses primarily on preschool-aged children, and the skills and competencies that will enable them to learn and participate in school and other settings. He and his colleagues at IGDILab are developing and testing applications for Individual Growth and Development Indicators of language and early literacy development for preschoolers. He also is involved in several efforts, locally and nationally, to eliminate the word gap-language disparities that occur early in young children's lives.