Category Archives: News & Events

The Applied Research Group for Kids! (TARGet Kids!) continues to uncover vital information from the Early Development Instrument (EDI)

TARGet Kids! (TK!) is a multi-disciplinary paediatric practice-based research network based out of The Hospital for Sick Children and Unity Health Toronto. TK! has been operating since 2008, collecting information on child development with a goal to prevent health problems.  

One set of data that TK! collects is the Early Development Instrument (EDI). By using the EDI with our health and outcome measurement data collected in TK!, we are able to draw important connections with how health behaviours impact school readiness.  

We are in the early stages of EDI collection for the 2022-2023 school year. To date, we’ve collected over 1300 surveys from 650 teachers in approximately 350 schools and across 15 school boards, TK!. With your help, we can build on the available information that may be used to support health and developmental care for children in primary care.

Read some of our recent publications to see the information that TK! is uncovering thanks to the EDI:

  1. Vanderloo LM, Janus M, Omand JA, et al. Children’s screen use and school readiness at 4-6 years: prospective cohort study. BMC Public Health. 2022; 22:382. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12629-8
  2. Vanderloo LM, Omand J, Keown-Stoneman CDG, et al. Association Between Physical Activity, Screen Time and Sleep, and School Readiness in Canadian Children Aged 4 to 6 Years. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2022;43(2):96-103. https://doi.org/10.1097/DBP.0000000000000986
  3. Omand JA, Li X, Keown-Stoneman CDG, et al. Body Weight at Age Four Years and Readiness to Start School: A Prospective Cohort Study [published online ahead of print, 2022 Jul 13]. Child Obes. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1089/chi.2022.0018
  4. Omand JA, Janus M, Maguire JL, et al. Nutritional Risk in Early Childhood and School Readiness. J Nutr. 2021;151(12):3811-3819. https://.org/doi:10.1093/jn/nxab307

“From Full Day Learning to 30 Minutes a Day: A Descriptive Study of Early Learning During the First COVID-19 Pandemic School Shutdown in Ontario”

In May to July 2020, our team conducted a survey of kindergarten educators asking about their experience with transition to online learning. The educators told us that the largest barrier to learning was the ability of both parents and educators to balance work, home life, and online learning/teaching – something that is still very true, even a year and half later. Read the details here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10643-021-01304-z

US paper examines the potential health inequalities of kindergarten aged children in regards to neighbourhood income and race/ethnicity data

In 2019 Dr. Janus collaborated with UCLA on a paper entitled: Measuring Equity From The Start: Disparities In The Health Development Of US Kindergartners which was recently accepted and published in the Journal of Health Affairs.  This paper examined the potential health inequalities of kindergarten aged children in regards to neighbourhood income and race/ethnicity data. https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00920

The state of early child development in Canada

A group of researchers from the University of Manitoba, McMaster University, and the University of British Columbia have written a discussion paper for the Public Health Agency of Canada on the current state and future direction of early child development in Canada.

Early Childhood Development in Canada: Current State of Knowledge and Future Directions

The discussion paper aims to summarize the current state of knowledge on early childhood development, based on the set of indicators in the Canadian Institute of Child Health’s 2017 Profile on the Health of Canada’s Children and Youth.

The paper describes how certain family factors impact the early years of children’s lives, including:

  • demographic characteristics
  • income and employment status
  • family and community characteristics
  • access to and use of health services
  • health status

The paper concludes with an overview of current policies, programs, and interventions that support early childhood development in Canada.

The report is also available in French.

Canadian Children’s Health in Context Study reveals impacts of SES on children with health disorders

A health disorder – either mental, such as autism or anxiety, or physical, such as asthma – early in life can have a big impact on the developmental trajectory of a child. Continue reading Canadian Children’s Health in Context Study reveals impacts of SES on children with health disorders

Results released for Quebec Survey of Child Development in Kindergarten

Quebec 2017

The second province-wide implementation of the EDI has taken place in Quebec, and the results show 27.7% of children are vulnerable in at least one area of their development. This is an increase from the 2012 collection, which showed 25.6% of children were vulnerable. Continue reading Results released for Quebec Survey of Child Development in Kindergarten