We conducted a State-wide study examining how Touchpoints (TP) could assist regional diagnosticians in school settings and increase their assessment skills for young preschool children with suspected disabilities. The training had a specific emphasis on establishing strong collaborative relationships with families during the assessment process. Some of the participants previously received TP training and were, separated into a “booster” group to compare to the newly trained group.
The study found that:
- Both groups showed increases in total knowledge scores from pre- to post-training. As expected, gains in the newly trained group were substantially larger than those accrued by the previously trained group.
- Both training groups showed increases in developmental knowledge.
- Both training groups retained the knowledge they gained for one year following training.
- Participants found TP reflective practice to be helpful and useful in their communication with coworkers and other community service providers.
