Development Delay Database

The project

In the canton of Zurich, the two units of special needs education (USNE) determine remedial therapy and speech therapy needs in all referred pre-school children in a centralised and standardised procedure. For this purpose, the USNE collect and store in a joint database (Developmental Delay Database) detailed information about personal data, children’s development and the therapy measures recommended in each case. The Database can be used to specifically target potential study participants for recruitment, to provide broad data on enrolled participants, and to analyze anonymized data for scientific purposes in the framework of the URPP AdaBD.

In the last years, the Platform mainly collaborated with the Project ChildBrainCircuits by screening the database for potential study participants. Additional collaborations are in planning.

Services of the platform

Data

• Clarify availability and quality of data on specific cohorts
• Describe defined cohorts of the Database, provide examples of available data for study planning and make researchers aware of statistical relevant restrictions
• Data entry, export and cleaning
• Coding and data protection (de-identification, pseudonymization/anonymization), export anonymized data
• Aggregate information of data which cannot be issued due to data privacy restrictions
• Simple data analyses

Study Coordination

• Support with the confidentiality agreement and ensuring that data is deleted within given time period
• Coordination of contact and documentation of requests, refusals and study participation of children within the cohort
• Support with recruitment for studies and first contact with potential study participants within the cohort
• Assisting in the preparation of ethics applications
• Organization of meetings and workshops

Staff

Michael von Rhein, PD MD, Co-Head USNE
Marion Wenger, MSc, Database manager and Study coordinator

Links

Preschool Children with Development Delay – Recruiting Opportunities (PDF, 1 MB)

Unit of special needs education (USNE) (in German)