ITSEA-CHILD - Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment - Childcare Provider Form

The ITSEA assesses for social or emotional problems and competencies in infants and toddlers and was designed to identify children with deficits or delays in these areas. It provides a comprehensive profile of problems and competencies with scores on 4 domains: 1) Externalizing, 2) Internalizing, 3) Dysregulation, 4) Competence. Each domain is comprised of a number of subscales (see sample items). The ITSEA also yields scores on three clusters that include atypical behaviors: Maladaptive, Social Relatedness, and Atypical. There are two versions, a Parent Form and a Childcare Provider Form; both are reviewed in this database.

Overview

Acronym: 

ITSEA-CHILD

Authors: 
Carter, Alice S., & Briggs-Gowan, Margaret
Citation: 

Carter, A.S., & Briggs-Gowan, M. (2005). ITSEA BITSEA: The Infant-Toddler and Brief Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment. PsychCorp: San Antonio, TX.

Contact Information: 

Alice.Carter@umb.edu www.harcourtassessment.com

Cost: 
Cost Involved
Copyrighted: 
Yes
Domain Assessed: 
Grief/Loss
Anxiety/Mood (Internalizing Symptoms)
Age Range: 
13
Measure Type: 
General Assessment
Measure Format: 
Questionnaire

Administration

Number of Items: 
166
Average Time to Complete (min): 
25
Reporter Type: 
Teacher/Day Care Provider
Average Time to Score (min): 
5
Periodicity: 
Last month
Response Format: 

3-point scale: 0 = Not true/rarely, 1 = Somewhat true/sometimes, and 2 = Very true/often. A "No Opportunity" code allows raters to indicate they have not had the opportunity to observe the behavior

Materials Needed: 
Paper/Pencil
Testing Stimuli
Sample Items: 
DomainsScaleSample Items
Information Provided: 
Areas of Concern/Risks
Continuous Assessment
Graphs (e.g. of elevated scale)
Raw Scores
Strengths

Training

Training to Administer: 
Training by Experienced Clinician (less than 4 hours)

Psychometrics

Notes on Psychometric Norms: 

Although there are norms for the ITSEA Parent Report Form, there are no norms for the Childcare Provider Form. However, means and standard deviations are provided for boys and girls by age (12-17 months and 18-36

Clinical Cutoffs: 
Yes
Clinical Cutoffs Description: 

PROBLEM SCORES: Cut scores =>90th percentile, Of Concern T-score between 63 and 69; Clinical T>=70 COMPETENCE SCORES: Cut scores =<10%; Of Concern: T between 31 and 37; Deficit/Delay T=>30

Reliability: 
TypeRatingStatisticsMinMaxAvg
Test-Retest
Internal Consistency
Inter-rater
Parallel/Alternate Forms
Construct Validity: 
Validity TypeNot knownNot foundNonclincal SamplesClinical SamplesDiverse Samples
Convergent/Concurrent
Discriminant
Sensitive to Change
Intervention Effects
Longitudinal/Maturation Effects
Sensitive to Theoretically Distinct Groups
Factorial Validity
Criterion Validity: 
Not KnownNot FoundNonclinical SamplesClinical SamplesDiverse Samples
Predictive Validity:
Postdictive Validity:

Translations

Translation Quality: 
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Population Information

Use with Diverse Populations: 
Population Type: 123456

Pros & Cons/References

Pros: 

1. The items appear clear and easy to understand. 2. The measure was developed specifically to assess infants and toddlers and includes items that are developmentally sensitive and relevant to young children. 3. Assesses competencies as well as problem behaviors. 4. There is a comparable parent version with identical items and scales to allow for comparisons between reporters.

Cons: 

1. The full psychometrics of the Childcare Provider Form have not been examined. At this point (8/05) there are only data regarding internal consistency, and there are no norms. 2. The measure is long. Studies of consumer satisfaction conducted with parents seem to suggest that approximately 39% felt the measure was somewhat too long or too long. Studies of this type have not been conducted with childcare providers, but it is likely that they will find the length burdensome. The BITSEA Childcare Provider Form is more likely to be useful in childcare settings. 3. The age range of the measure 1-3 is awkward for treatment-outcome research and longitudinal studies because children need to fall in that age range at pre-, post-, and follow-up assessment periods. 4. With regard to using the measure for trauma-exposed children, there is no scale that directly measures trauma symptoms, so another measure would need to be used to capture trauma symptomatology. 5. The pricing of the ITSEA Childcare Provider Form seems high, given the limited psychometric research on this measure.

Developer of Review: 
Chandra Ghosh Ippen, Ph.D.
Editor of Review: 
Chandra Ghosh Ippen, Ph.D.
Last Updated: 
Friday, January 10, 2014