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Are there differences between psychological tests and pedagogical observation and documentation methods?

Observation is used to document the development of children. The primary aim is to generate ideas to provide individualized support for children. These procedures focus on children’s strengths, their current learning interests and, above all, their sense of well-being, thus facilitating ability-oriented support for all children. This does not include an evaluation of a child’s developmental status.

Kitas also often employ questionnaires to evaluate young children’s development. Similar to medical check-ups, these serve to provide an overall assessment of a child’s cognitive, linguistic, motor, and social-emotional developmental status. Most importantly, they are used to identify children with significant developmental challenges so that appropriate diagnosis and treatment by qualified therapists (e.g., speech and language therapists) can be recommended.

The purpose of standardized developmental diagnostic tests is to provide an in-depth assessment of a specific issue. They typically measure clearly delineated developmental characteristics and compare the individual child’s performance with the performance of a representative group of peers. Compared to developmental screenings, standardized developmental diagnostic tests are typically constructed following stringent scientific standards to reduce errors in measurement and observation wherever possible. As a result, they provide a more objective and reliable indication as to whether the characteristic being assessed is within the range judged to be age-appropriate for a given child.