For one of our new grants, we are developing a screening tool to identify toddlers who may have delays in social communication. The tool is called “My Toddler’s Social Communication” and will illustrate pictures of toddlers engaged in 12 common social communication behaviors. We are looking for photos of toddlers from diverse backgrounds, so that all families will be able to see their child in the images and recognize that this measure was created with their family in mind. We are interested in photos of children between 16 and 30 months of age.
The behaviors we hope to represent with photos are:
- Pointing to objects to let you know what s/he wants
- Pointing to objects to share his/her interests with you
- Holding up and showing objects to share his/her interests with you
- Looking at you and smiling to share his/her enjoyment with you
- Imitating the things you do
- Playing back-and-forth and turn-taking games with you
- Looking at objects when you point to them
- Using his/her face or body gestures to show you how s/he feels
- Using toy objects as if they are real
- Playing with other children around the same age
- Getting your attention to show you something that s/he is proud of
- Bringing you objects when s/he needs help
If you have photos of your own child that you are willing to share, please send them to readilab@uw.edu. We will treat them with love.