Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDIs) are six-minute play-based assessments that monitor development in children 6 to 42 months. The system pairs four assessments with training, certification, an optional scoring service, and a free online data platform.
IGDIs have been used since the early 1990s and are one of the longest-running assessment systems at Juniper Gardens. The system covers four areas of development: communication (ECI), movement (EMI), problem solving (EPSI), and social interaction (ESI). A newer variant, ECI-A, supports children diagnosed with or at risk for autism. Each assessment takes about six minutes and is built so any adult who works with young children can become a reliable assessor through training. Programs choose how to use IGDIs: train staff to administer and score, or use the IGDI Scoring Service, where the IGDI team scores videos uploaded by the program. Once certified, programs get free access to the IGDI Data System for storing scores, monitoring progress, and using the MOD decision-support tool. IGDIs have been used across the U.S. and in Australia, Italy, Ecuador, Portugal, and other countries — nearly 125,000 assessments have been entered into the data system for over 35,000 children.
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