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Poverty and scarcity of resources make children in low-and-middle-income countries at risk of not reaching their developmental potential. Despite a near-universal interest in risk reduction, effective interventions like enhancing reading skills in parents to diminish developmental delay remain elusive for the great majority of vulnerable families. We undertook a efficacy study for parental use of a booklet called CARE for developmental screening of children between 36 to 60 months old (M = 44.0, SD = 7.5). All participants (N = 50), lived in vulnerable, low-income neighborhoods in Colombia. The study followed a pilot Quasi-Randomised Control Trial design (i.e., control group participants assigned based on non-random criteria) of parent training with a CARE intervention group compared to a control group. Data was analyzed using two-way ANCOVA for sociodemographic variables’ interaction with follow-up results and one-way ANCOVA to evaluate the relations between the intervention and post-measurement of developmental delays and cautions and other language related-skills outcomes, while controlling for pre-measurements. These analyses indicated that the CARE booklet intervention enhanced children’s developmental status and narrative skills (developmental screening delay items, F(1, 47) = 10.45, p = .002, partial η2 = .182; narrative devices scores, F(1, 17) = 4.87, p = .041, partial η2 = .223). Several limitations (e.g., sample size) and possible implications for the analysis of children’s developmental potential are discussed and considered for future research, along with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the closure of preschools and community care centers.

贫困与资源匮乏，令中低收入国家的儿童面临难以充分发挥其发展潜能的风险。尽管全球范围内对风险防控均有高度重视，但诸如提升家长阅读能力以缓解儿童发展迟缓这类有效干预手段，对绝大多数弱势家庭而言仍难以推广落地。本研究针对一款名为《CARE》的儿童发展筛查手册开展家长使用效能评估，研究对象为36至60月龄的儿童（平均年龄M=44.0，标准差SD=7.5）。所有50名（N=50）参与者均居住在哥伦比亚的弱势低收入社区。本研究采用试点准随机对照试验（Quasi-Randomised Control Trial）设计，将参与培训的家长分为CARE干预组与对照组，其中对照组参与者按非随机标准分配。数据分析环节采用双向协方差分析（two-way ANCOVA）检验社会人口学变量与追踪结果的交互效应，并采用单向协方差分析（one-way ANCOVA）在控制前测数据的前提下，评估干预措施与儿童发展迟缓、发展预警及其他语言相关技能等后测指标间的关联。分析结果显示，《CARE》手册干预可显著改善儿童的发展状态与叙事技能：在发展筛查迟缓条目上，F(1, 47) = 10.45, p = .002, 偏η² = .182；在叙事策略得分上，F(1, 17) = 4.87, p = .041, 偏η² = .223。本研究讨论了若干局限性（如样本量较小），以及儿童发展潜能分析领域的潜在研究方向，同时探讨了新冠疫情（COVID-19）对幼儿园与社区托育机构关停带来的影响，并为后续研究提供了思考方向。