Summary

The Early Development Instrument (EDI) is a questionnaire developed by Dr. Dan Offord and Dr. Magdalena Janus at the Offord Centre for Child Studies at McMaster University. The EDI reliably assesses the developmental health of children from early development to school age in a holistic manner. The EDI evaluates a variety of skills and behaviour that encompasses five major areas of child development.

The EDI is a 103-item questionnaire completed by kindergarten teachers in the second half of the school year that measures a child’s ability to meet ageappropriate developmental expectations in five general domains: Physical Health and Well-Being, Social Competence, Emotional Maturity, Language and Cognitive Development, Communication Skills and General Knowledge.

The EDI is a reliable and valid measurement tool of developmental status completed on individual children between 3.5 and 6.5 years of age. After teachers complete the EDI on each individual child in their class, the results are grouped together to give a snap shot of how children are doing across schools, neighbourhoods, cities, or even provinces and countries.