The DAYC-2 for Early Intervention and Preschool Therapists: Domains, Scoring, and Report Tips

If you work in early intervention or on a preschool evaluation team, you have probably seen the Developmental Assessment of Young Children on an evaluation plan. Older posts call it the "DAY-C" and describe the first edition. The current edition is the DAYC-2, by Judith K. Voress and Taddy Maddox, published by Pro-Ed in 2013 (Pro-Ed, n.d.). Here is what it measures, how it is given and scored, how to write it up, and where the evidence is thin.

Why early intervention and preschool therapists use it

The DAYC-2 is a norm-referenced test for identifying possible delays in five domains that line up with the developmental areas IDEA requires for assessment and intervention (Pro-Ed, n.d.). That makes it a natural fit for Part C and preschool evaluations. For therapists:

• Each domain stands alone. You can give only the domains you need, or all five for a measure of general development (PAR, n.d.).
• It fits arena assessment. Each discipline can give its own domain independently (Pro-Ed, n.d.).
• Flexible information gathering. Items can be scored from observation, caregiver interview, or direct assessment (PAR, n.d.), which helps with toddlers who will not perform on demand.
• It maps to federal child outcomes. The Early Childhood Technical Assistance (ECTA) Center publishes a crosswalk linking the Social-Emotional domain to Outcome 1, Cognitive and Communication to Outcome 2, and Physical Development and Adaptive Behavior to Outcome 3 (ECTA Center, 2026).

What it is: the basics

• Full name: Developmental Assessment of Young Children, Second Edition (DAYC-2)
• Authors and publisher: Judith K. Voress and Taddy Maddox; Pro-Ed (Pro-Ed, n.d.). Some distributor listings also name Donald D. Hammill and give 2012 as the publication date (Pearson, n.d.-a), so you may see slightly different citations.
• Ages: Birth through 5 years, 11 months (ECTA Center, 2026; Pearson, n.d.-b)
• Format: Individually administered, print record forms, one scoring form per domain (Pro-Ed, n.d.)
• Time: About 10 to 20 minutes per domain (Pro-Ed, n.d.)
• Qualification level: B (PAR, n.d.; Pro-Ed, n.d.). Check your distributor's qualification policy to confirm what level B requires.
• Norms: A national sample of 1,832 children, collected from 2009 to 2011, with characteristics described as approximating the 2010 U.S. Census (Pro-Ed, n.d.). A publisher sample report describes the sample as drawn from 20 states (Australian Council for Educational Research [ACER], n.d.).
• Language: English only, according to the ECTA crosswalk (ECTA Center, 2026).

What changed from the original DAYC

The first edition dates to 1998 (Buros Center for Testing, n.d.). According to the publisher, the second edition added new normative data, subdomain scores for receptive and expressive language and for gross and fine motor, additional validity studies including sensitivity and specificity studies, reworded items for clarity, and a simplified ceiling rule (Pro-Ed, n.d.).

What the DAYC-2 measures

The publisher describes five domains, two of which break into subdomains (Pro-Ed, n.d.; PAR, n.d.):

1. Cognition: early thinking and problem solving skills.
2. Communication: with Receptive Language and Expressive Language subdomains.
3. Social-Emotional Development: social interaction and emotional skills. One distributor lists social and emotional separately in its description, but the scoring form treats them as one domain (Pearson, n.d.-a).
4. Physical Development: with Gross Motor and Fine Motor subdomains.
5. Adaptive Behavior: everyday self-help and independence skills.

For an OT, Fine Motor and Adaptive Behavior usually carry the most weight. Fine Motor is a slice of one domain, not a full fine motor battery. Confirm item content, item counts, and start points in the manual and record forms.

How it is scored and how to report it

Each domain yields a standard score, percentile rank, and age equivalent (Pro-Ed, n.d.). The Communication and Physical Development subdomains also produce scores (PAR, n.d.). When all five domains are given, you can derive a General Development Index (GDI), which a publisher sample report calls the most reliable score on the test (ACER, n.d.). The same sample report also lists the standard error of measurement and a confidence interval for the GDI and flags statistically significant differences between domains (ACER, n.d.).

The product pages do not state the mean and standard deviation of the standard scores. A publisher sample report plots scores on a 50 to 150 scale, which is consistent with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15 (ACER, n.d.), but confirm the metric and the descriptive terms in your manual before you write labels like "below average" into a report.

Reporting tips:

• Lead with standard scores and percentile ranks; use age equivalents sparingly.
• Report a GDI only when all five domains were completed.
• Name the information source for each domain (observation, caregiver interview, direct assessment).
• Pair scores with functional observation and caregiver concerns, and apply your state's eligibility criteria rather than a generic cutoff.

A realistic example

Mateo, age 3 years 4 months, was referred by his preschool teacher for trouble with utensils, dressing, and climbing. In the district's arena evaluation, the OT gives Physical Development and Adaptive Behavior, the SLP gives Communication, and the school psychologist gives Cognition and Social-Emotional. The OT scores most fine motor items through direct assessment and several adaptive items from a caregiver interview, since dressing is hard to observe at school.

Sample score summary (FICTIONAL)

These scores are invented for illustration only. They assume standard scores with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, with percentile ranks matched to that metric. Confirm the metric and descriptive ranges in your DAYC-2 manual.

• Cognition: standard score 92, 30th percentile
• Communication: standard score 81, 10th percentile (Receptive Language 86, 18th percentile; Expressive Language 78, 7th percentile)
• Social-Emotional Development: standard score 95, 37th percentile
• Physical Development: standard score 76, 5th percentile (Gross Motor 85, 16th percentile; Fine Motor 72, 3rd percentile)
• Adaptive Behavior: standard score 84, 14th percentile
• General Development Index: standard score 82, 12th percentile

How to write it up

The Developmental Assessment of Young Children, Second Edition (DAYC-2) was administered as part of a multidisciplinary arena evaluation. This therapist completed the Physical Development and Adaptive Behavior domains through direct assessment, classroom observation, and an interview with Mateo's mother. On Physical Development, Mateo earned a standard score of 76 (5th percentile), with a Fine Motor subdomain score of 72 (3rd percentile) and a Gross Motor subdomain score of 85 (16th percentile). He used a fisted crayon grasp, could not yet snip with scissors, and needed help with fasteners. On Adaptive Behavior, he earned a standard score of 84 (14th percentile); his mother reports he needs help with most dressing tasks. These results, with teacher report, suggest fine motor and self-care skills below age expectations that limit his participation in preschool routines.

Add the descriptive term your manual assigns to each score and a note on how testing behavior may have affected results.

What the research says

Honestly, the independent research base is small. Most psychometric data, including the sensitivity and specificity studies, lives in the examiner's manual (Pro-Ed, n.d.). Independent reviews appear in the Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment (Swartzmiller, 2014) and the Twentieth Mental Measurements Yearbook (Buros Center for Testing, n.d.).

Peer-reviewed studies that use the DAYC-2 are mostly clinical research rather than validation work. A 2024 study of high-risk infants compared early intervention referral rates after in-person Bayley-4 testing and telehealth DAYC-2 administration and, as its title states, found them similar (Ke et al., 2024). The DAYC-2 also appears as a comparison measure for other tools; Stephenson et al. (2025) summarize manual data showing moderate correlations between the Developmental Profile 4 and the DAYC-2. Useful context, but not a substitute for large independent studies of diagnostic accuracy.

Practical cautions

• Caregiver report cuts both ways. Interview items depend on the informant. Note who reported what.
• Precursor skills may not fit every child. The ECTA crosswalk cautions that some precursor skills may not be appropriate or expected for children with sensory, motor, or other impairments (ECTA Center, 2026).
• Breadth over depth. One Physical Development domain cannot replace a dedicated motor test when you need detail for intervention planning.
• English only. There is no published Spanish edition listed in the ECTA crosswalk (ECTA Center, 2026), so plan carefully for multilingual families.
• Norm age. The norms were collected in 2009 to 2011 (Pro-Ed, n.d.).

How it compares with related tools

• Bayley-4: Covers cognitive, language, motor, social-emotional, and adaptive behavior for about 1 to 42 months (Pearson, n.d.-b). It is more of a direct, examiner-led battery and does not reach the 4 and 5 year olds the DAYC-2 covers.
• PDMS-3: Assesses gross and fine motor skills from birth to 5 (Pearson, n.d.-b). Pair it with the DAYC-2 when you need motor detail for goals.
• Vineland-3: Measures adaptive behavior from birth through adulthood (Pearson, n.d.-b). It goes deeper on adaptive skills than the DAYC-2 Adaptive Behavior domain.

Bottom line

The DAYC-2 is a quick, flexible, norm-referenced way to cover all five IDEA developmental areas from birth through 5 years, 11 months, and its domain-by-domain design suits arena evaluations. Use it for eligibility and a broad picture, confirm score metrics in your manual, and add a dedicated motor or adaptive measure when you need detail for treatment planning.

References

Australian Council for Educational Research. (n.d.). Developmental Assessment of Young Children, Second Edition: Sample clinical report. https://www.acer.org/files/DAYC-2_Sample_Clinical_Report.pdf

Buros Center for Testing. (n.d.). Developmental Assessment of Young Children, Second Edition [Test review]. University of Nebraska-Lincoln. https://marketplace.unl.edu/buros/developmental-assessment-of-young-children.html

Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center. (2026). Crosswalk of the Developmental Assessment of Young Children, Second Edition (DAYC-2) to the child outcomes. https://ectacenter.org/~pdfs/eco/crosswalk-DAYC-2.pdf

Ke, J. C., Hayati Rezvan, P., Vanderbilt, D., Mirzaian, C. B., Deavenport-Saman, A., & Smith, B. A. (2024). Similar early intervention referral rates following in-person administration of the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, 4th Edition versus telehealth administration of the Developmental Assessment in Young Children, 2nd Edition in the high-risk infant population. Early Human Development, 190, 105971. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2024.105971

PAR. (n.d.). DAYC-2: Developmental Assessment of Young Children, Second Edition. https://www.parinc.com/products/DAYC-2

Pearson. (n.d.-a). Developmental Assessment of Young Children, Second Edition (DAYC-2). https://www.pearsonassessments.com/en-us/Store/Professional-Assessments/Developmental-Early-Childhood/Developmental-Assessment-of-Young-Children-%7C-Second-Edition/p/100000730

Pearson. (n.d.-b). Early childhood development assessments. https://www.pearson.com/en-us/work/clinical-assessments/early-childhood-development

Pro-Ed. (n.d.). DAYC-2: Developmental Assessment of Young Children, Second Edition, complete kit. https://proedinc.com/products-13745.html

Stephenson, K. G., Vargo, K. C., Cacciato, N. M., Albright, C. M., & Kryszak, E. M. (2025). Developmental assessment in children at higher likelihood for developmental delays: Comparison of parent report and direct assessment. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 55(9), 3118-3128. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-024-06420-4

Swartzmiller, M. D. (2014). Test review: Developmental Assessment of Young Children, Second Edition (DAYC-2). Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 32(6), 577-580. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282913518380

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