Q1: Why is it important for practitioners use assessment materials and strategies that are appropriate for the child’s age and level of development and accommodate the child’s sensory, physical, communication, cultural, linguistic, social, and emotional characteristics? Children can only show you what they know and can do if they understand what you are asking them. The purpose of assessment in early childhood education is to learn about EACH child’s interests, strengths, and needs. To make this possible, three points must be addressed. First – Children need to understand the questions or requests in the assessment in order to know how to respond. Second – Children need to have the verbal or nonverbal language needed to demonstrate their skills, knowledge, and interests in ways that the practitioner can record. Third – Children need to feel comfortable in the assessment process in order to stay engaged and to respond fully and confidently. Even when an age-appropriate assessment is chosen, it may not work for a particular child due to variations in cognitive and linguistic development, so adaptations will be needed. A child may have a sensory disability or sensitivity, or a physical disability impacting coordination or articulation that can influence how he processes and responds to the demands of the assessment. There may be many reasons why a young child might not respond to a question even though they know the answer. A child’s communication with a practitioner during an assessment may be affected by their communication style and temperament, the child’s experiences in relating to adults, their temporary emotional state, or their learned cultural expectations for adult-child interactions. Assessment is a process, and this is most clearly true for young children. Each step in the process can reveal some information about the child’s level of development and sensory, physical, communication, cultural, linguistic, social, and emotional characteristics that will make subsequent steps more appropriate for each child and more effective in meeting assessment goals.