FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Amy Perkins Clause, Brookes Publishing
410-337-9580 x128; aclause@brookespublishing.com

Baltimore, Maryland (June 2015) – Brookes Publishing is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Ages & Stages Questionnaires® (ASQ), a widely used screener in early education, pediatric, and public health settings. Used in all 50 states and U.S. territories and around the world, ASQ has screened hundreds of thousands of young children for developmental and social-emotional delays.

ASQ’s roots go back to the 1970s, when Dr. Diane Bricker from the University of Oregon heeded the call for economical, valid, and culturally sensitive screening tools for young children. With a team of handpicked researchers, Bricker and Dr. Jane Squires spent the next two decades developing and refining the parent-completed ASQ questionnaires, which Brookes first published in 1995. A dedicated social-emotional screener, ASQ:SE, followed in 2002. Both ASQ and ASQ:SE became trusted and popular tools for screening young children, celebrating milestones, and catching potential delays as early as possible. “One of the biggest gifts you can give a child and family is a solid early developmental period,” Squires points out. Bricker adds, “A key to effective early intervention is early detection. The conducting of comprehensive developmental-behavioral screening contributes to increased early identification that benefits children, families, and their community.”

Awareness of the critical importance of screening has deepened over the past few decades. More states have launched screening initiatives, pediatricians have embraced screening recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics, and screening has become an integral part of many quality rating improvement systems (QRIS). ASQ has played a key role in many of these initiatives: More than a million questionnaires are completed every year, and the third edition, ASQ-3™, has been translated into almost 50 languages. New ASQ products have been introduced to address users’ evolving needs, including ASQ Online (web-based data management and online questionnaire completion) and the new ASQ:SE-2™, slated for fall 2015.

Jane Squires calls ASQ’s two decades of widespread use “amazing and incredible. I don’t think either [Diane Bricker or I] even dreamed that ASQ would be a worldwide phenomenon. What an honor it has been to be part of this process.”

Brookes Publishing President Jeff Brookes speaks with pride about the company’s part in ASQ’s legacy. “Our mission is to help every child reach his or her full potential, and ASQ has helped us work toward that goal for 20 years,” says Brookes. “ASQ has made a real difference in the lives of so many children around the world. Brookes is proud to be the publisher of such a landmark tool.”

To bring the benefits of ASQ to more children worldwide, international research and translation is ongoing. In September 2014, the first ASQ international symposium was held in San Francisco, California, with more than 40 researchers and practitioners sharing their ASQ experience and identifying solutions for adapting and translating the questionnaires. Brookes Executive Vice President Melissa Behm says, “With translations about to surpass 50 languages and outstanding results reported in many independent studies, we know that ASQ will continue to have a positive impact on the lives of children around the world for decades to come. Brookes Publishing will continue to collaborate with the authors and work in communities to help children and their families achieve the best outcomes possible.”

For more information about ASQ, please visit www.agesandstages.com.

About Brookes Publishing Co.

For more than 35 years, Brookes Publishing Co. has been a leading provider of professional resources and assessments in early childhood, literacy, and special education. An independent company, Brookes Publishing Co. is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. For more information, please visit www.brookespublishing.com.