For children living in poverty, an ecology of potential risks threatens healthy development. Developmental screening can mitigate risk and build resilience NEST – a Neurodevelopmental Ecological Screening Tool- that promises to make early developmental screening accessible to all children, regardless of circumstance
The goals of NEST are two-fold: 1) To offer service providers and parents in low-resource environments a valid, reliable, and practical screening tool that assesses how a child is developing; and 2) to identify ways to minimize risk factors and build resilience for children faced with early adversity.
Our research indicates that NEST can reliably and validly detect developmental delay similar to commonly used gold standard measures. We sought to ensure that no child is missed, making NEST not just useful but safe to use in low-resource and nontraditional settings. For more information about the research behind NEST see the published papers click here. To purchase NEST, click here.
Contact us here: info@nestscreener.com
Program Evaluation is a valuable and necessary part of quality services. Built into regular programming, well-conducted evaluations assist providers in knowing if their services have a real impact on families’ lives. Communicating clearly about progress is essential for human service providers and necessary to ensure sustainability.
Routine evaluations track progress.
Results enable leaders to make mid-course corrections and refine services. Well-crafted evaluations explicitly link program services with outcomes for children and families.
Evaluations examine the effects of interventions at the client, program, and systems levels.
Most programs typically identify and report “benchmarks.” But performance measurement is only one component of program evaluation. These measures are important but are not enough. They do not evaluate the impact of a service on consumer outcomes.
Evaluation results guide decisions.
Do you continue with the same program approach, or adopt a new one? How do you communicate about a program’s effectiveness and make decisions about strategic resource allocation? Evaluation results guide this process.
When deciding what to evaluate it is best to start with a needs assessment.
A needs assessment looks at the community, the characteristics of the group being served, and the literature on risk factors to determine what to target. A needs assessment helps service providers accomplish the following: 1) understand the needs of the target population; 2) identify essential service components; 3) determine which services to implement; 4) link the services to specific desired outcomes; and 5) decide the scope of the evaluation.
Evaluations have the most credibility when project stakeholders are actively engaged.
This is called “participatory evaluation”, which emphasizes including the consumer of services in the design and implementation of the evaluation. When the individuals from whom data are collected are engaged in determining the questions, the data tend to be more meaningful and complete. Be sure to engage families with lived experience in the evaluation process.
Trauma-Informed Ecological Response T.I.E.R.™ was developed by Artemis Associates under the leadership of Carmela J. DeCandia, Psy.D. T.I.E.R.™ is grounded in practical, on-the ground, experience, and is based on best practices for building psychologically healthy workplaces, organizational culture change, and addressing trauma. We use only psychometrically validated quantitative measures to assess an organizations level of trauma-informed responses and we compliment this with qualitative interviewing and focus groups, coded and analyzed empirically. Using this data we help you devise an 18month to 3 year strategic action plan to implement transformational systems change, and we conduct follow-up TIC evaluaitons to assess progress and update implementaiotn activities as needed. See the T.I.E.R.™ model for more details.
The process of developing any organization or program model is highly individual. The context, culture, and people in the program, as well as its larger community, is unique; what one program needs or has the resources to provide may be quite different from another program. The culture of the program and community must be considered when assessing organizational dynamics and needs. Building an organization’s culture to be better aligned with its mission and structure requires a commitment by leadership to examine themselves and be willing to hear feedback from employees.
The most important aspect of building an organization’s culture is investing in its people. The Leadership development is key to build the culture. To rebuild, significant time must be given to working with this group. In addition, clarifying the mission and vision is needed early on to start to build a uniform culture that brings people together under a common objective. As awareness and knowledge develops, skill development across roles must develop in line with the program’s defined model. The focus starts with supervisors and leaders being able to practice more reflectively, with a trauma informed and cultural/equity lens, and in being able to dialogue across difference. Continually addressing how to give and received feedback in ways that support employee engagement is crucial the process unfolds from the ground up, all employees increase their participation and ownership of the change process, and in time, services become more influenced and led by client feedback and participation in governance. Although linear in conceptualization, the process is like a spiral, with aspects of training, skill development, buy-in, and evaluation looping back on itself as the system changes.
Research plays a crucial role in improving the lives of children and families by providing evidence-based insights into their needs, challenges, and opportunities for growth. By understanding the factors that influence child development, family dynamics, and community well– being, researchers can identify effective interventions, inform policies, and create programs that support healthier, more resilient families. Research helps us discover innovative solutions to pressing issues—such as education gaps, mental health concerns, and economic instability—ensuring that children have the resources and opportunities they need to thrive, while families are equipped with the tools and support to navigate life’s challenges. Ultimately, investing in research is an investment in the future, creating a foundation for stronger, more equitable societies. We bring deep expertise in child and family functioning, homelessness, trauma and adversity, and mixed method approaches. We would love to partner with you around exploring ideas for collaboration.
If interested, please contact Dr. DeCandia at cj@artemisassoc.com
Artemis Associates regularly engages in a variety of research projects with partners from around the country. We have recently expanded to support countries from low and middle income countries (LMICs) to extend our support for children and families around the globe. Examples of projects we are working on are listed below. If you are interested in participating in any of these projects, or would like to discuss expanding NEST for a new group or location, please contact us at info@nestscreeners.com
NEST-early childhood will be complemented by future tools to address the needs of children of other age groups. NEST-Infants and Toddlers is proposed to meet the needs of the very young children ages 0-2 years living in poverty, homelessness, or affected by early adversity. We hope to expand NEST to meet the needs for screening school age children, and for other language groups, in the United States in the coming years.
NEST-USA is a model of an mHealth platform that is well suited for adaptation and implementation in Low and Middle Income Countries. The promise of NEST adapted for open access global use is beginning with Perú, in partnership with the University of Maryland School of Socia Work, Health Bridges International, and the Universidad Católica de Santa Maria in Arequipa, Peru. This global effort began in 2019 and is currently working on a pilot project to adapt the tool for the Peruvian context. We aim to adapt the original NEST framework to the Peruvian context by 1) building an mHealth platform for the screening of developmental and mental health risk in children ages 3-5 in the Peruvian health system; and 2) developing a brief intervention recommendation algorithm. Drawing on several models of community engagement and developmental ecological theory, U.S. and Peruvian providers and researchers are working together to ensure that no young child, no matter where they are, will miss an opportunity for early identification and intervention.