User:Yairsadaka1/Tipat Halav Israel Screening (THIS)

Tipat Halav Israel Screening (THIS) – is an evidence-based developmental scale, used to evaluate children from birth to age 6 years and to assess developmental milestone achievements.

Developed in Israel in 2022, THIS is based on millions of developmental assessments conducted on the culturally diverse population of Israel. It is the only tool of its kind that is applicable to a wide range of children and is widely used for monitoring child development in Israel.

THIS is based on age-appropriate tasks in four main domains: language, social-personal, fine motor, and gross motor skills. This monitoring provides information about the rate at which a child acquires abilities and skills during their early years. It allows for a comparison between a child's developmental milestones and the expected milestones for children of the same age. The tool is designed to identify strengths and weaknesses in children and provide appropriate guidance and further evaluation as needed.

THIS scale is derived from assessments carried out by trained public health nurses nationwide.

In Israel, universal, free-of-charge pediatric preventive care for children from birth to age 6 years is provided in maternal child health clinics (MCHCs) known as Tipat Halav (“drop of milk”). Parents are advised to bring their children to these clinics at various intervals from birth up to the age of 6 years (1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, and 60 months). With a compliance rate of over 95% in the first years of life. A developmental surveillance is conducted in every visit.

The milestones used to develop THIS scale were collected from multiple sources, including the Sally Provence Developmental Profile, Denver Developmental Scale, and Gesell Developmental Schedule. The norms for the scale were determined based on the analysis of the vast amount of information accumulated during the years of developmental assessments. The research team was curated  of researchers from the KI Research Institute in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, and with the assistance of professional at the Department of Maternal and Child Health, the Department of Public Health and the Department of Child Development and Rehabilitation.

THIS scale was constructed based on Approximately 3.8 million evaluations collected over a span of six years (2014-2020). The scale presents the achievement rates of milestones at the 75%, 90%, and 95% levels. The study established a norm age for achieving each milestone. The developmental norms are based on millions of developmental assessments carried out at Tipat Helav clinics accounting for the diverse population of Israel, with its various ethnicities and languages.

The scale was evaluated by a team of experts from the Ministry of Health and adapted to the monitoring procedure at the MCHC clinics (Tipat Halav) in Israel. In 2022 the scale was officially implemented by the Ministry of Health as the standard for monitoring the development of Israeli children.

Please remember - not all children achieve the developmental milestones at the same time. The developmental assessment offers an opportunity to reflect the child's unique developmental state, and to identify strengths alongside needs and challenges. Providing guidance and identifying developmental risk factors in children whose development does not occur in the expected time frame is of great importance. Early detection, diagnosis and treatment contribute to promoting the child's development, health and readiness for future tasks.