Social developmental delays among 3 to 6 year old children in preschools in German social hotspots: results of a dynamic prospective cohort study

Background Social skills are valid predictors for school readiness and subsequent school success. The federal state law for child day-care and preschools in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a federal state in Germany, provides additional funds for the targeted and individualized promotion of social developmental delays for children in preschools in social hotspots. The law grants additional funds to eligible preschools, provided that each child's development is documented with a standardized, objective and valid screening instrument. Methods To monitor the development and to detect social developmental delays, the preschools involved use the Dortmund Developmental Screening for Preschools (DESK 3-6). For the prevalence and risk factors, data of 5595 children aged 3 to 6 years from these preschools were analyzed. Results 9.6% of the children show reasonable findings in their social development; for a further 6.1% the results were inconclusive. Sex, presence of chronic diseases or disabilities and reasonable findings in the domains motor development and language and cognition were risk factors in terms of social development across all age groups. Conclusions The federal state law is a good example for the implementation of a standardized monitoring of the development of children. With the help of this screening instrument, prevention activities to reduce the prevalence of developmental delays can be conducted in early childhood. Early preventive activities should take into account the reported risk factors for the social development.