Developmental Assessment of Young Children | Second Edition (DAYC-2)

The DAYC-2 identifies developmental delays in children from birth through age 5. Its five domains map directly onto the areas IDEA requires be assessed for young children: cognition, communication, social-emotional development, physical development, and adaptive behavior.

Information comes from three sources rather than one — watching the child, interviewing a caregiver, and direct testing — which matters with very young children who may not perform on demand in an unfamiliar room. Each domain can be given on its own, so a therapist can test only what is relevant, or run all five for a general development score. That design also supports arena assessment, where a whole team observes the same session and each discipline scores its own domain.

Licensing Notes: Distributed through Pearson, WPS, and PAR, and a Level C qualification isrequired. Scoring forms are consumables sold in packs of 25. Reproduction requires publisher permission.

Learn More: Subdomain scores are available beyond the five main domains — receptive and expressive language within Communication, and gross and fine motor within Physical Development. That matters for OTs, who often need the fine motor score specifically rather than a combined physical development figure.