Development Index of Kindergarten Pupils: An Assessment

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

"Don't Wait Until It's Too Late to Save a Child" There is an increasing acknowledgment that the first few years of a child's life are a particularly important period in the child's development along with cognitive functioning; behavioral, social, and self-regulatory capacities; and physical health. Yet many children face various problems during these years that can damage their healthy development. Hence, early assessment is necessary.

The Philippine Early Childhood Development (PECD) Checklist is an early assessment tool designed for children ages 3-.11 years old. It assesses the child's developmental domains namely: Gross motor, fine motor, receptive language, expressive language, socio-emotional aspect, self-help, and cognitive domain. The PECD is a tool to identify children who are significantly delayed in overall development. Early detection of developmental delays helps educators plan appropriate intervention and effective individualized instruction for each child. Thus this study is necessary.

METHODS

In order to gauge the development index of the kindergarten pupils and the difficulties met by the teachers in the administration of the PECD checklist, the researcher employed the descriptive-survey method. This method is directed toward ascertaining the prevailing conditions, that is, facts that prevail in a group of cases chosen for the study. This method is essentially a technique of quantitative description of the general characteristics of the group.

RESULTS

The research revealed that out of the 2422 kindergarten pupils for the school year 2018-2019, 39 % or 942 is significantly delayed in expressive language, 16% or 381 in socio-emotional, and 15% or 371 in self-help skills.

The top three (3) problems met by the teachers in administering the PECD checklist include absenteeism of pupils, lack of focus or concentration and poor classroom conditions.

DISCUSSIONS

Kindergarten pupils are significantly delayed in expressive language, socio-emotional and self-help skills thus need enhancement activities. Thus, a writeshop on the preparation of wordless picture books is the proposed intervention to improve the Development Index of the Kindergarten pupils in the Philippine Early Childhood Development (PECD) checklist, especially along with expressive language skills.

Moreover, the teachers find administering the Philippine Early Childhood Development (PECD) checklist difficult due to the absenteeism of pupils, lack of focus or concentration, and poor classroom environment.