We’re excited to share that we kicked off training for the pilot phase of our iRRRd study on October 5, together with our partners at icddr,b and University of California, Davis. Over the next three months, we will test new measures for the next wave of data collection with Rohingya refugee families living in the southeast of Bangladesh.

This wave — following children in our study cohort as they reach three years of age — has been made possible by a $𝟯 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 The LEGO Foundation.

“This pilot is a critical step to make sure our tools capture the unique realities of Rohingya and host community families,” said Fahmida Tofail, co-Principal Investigator and Scientist at icddr,b. “We are eager to generate insights that can inform both science and policy.”

“Having the chance to follow children into toddlerhood is an extraordinary opportunity,” added Alice Wuermli, Principal Investigator for iRRRd and Director of Research & Innovation at NYU Global TIES for Children. “It allows us to investigate the mechanisms — from the molecular to the social — of how pre- and postnatal environments affect early development.”

𝗪𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗘𝗚𝗢 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗶𝗰𝗱𝗱𝗿,𝗯, 𝗨𝗖 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹, 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲.

In this brief, NYU Global TIES for Children researchers describe a rapid iterative process of cultural, linguistic, and contextual adaptation and extension of child assessment tools for Rohingya Children in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. It includes three specific examples showcasing the rigorous, culturally responsive, equity-based approach to adaptation. This report also highlights some of the most critical findings from using this extended IDELA, known as IDELA-E, in our pilot study. Results suggest that IDELA-E is responsive to the environment in which the Rohingya children grow up and can capture their learning and development gains across multiple domains. Assessment using IDELA-E shows the age-based developmental progression of Rohingya children across these five domains: fine and gross motor, emergent literacy, emergent numeracy, socio-emotional, and executive function development. Overall, this brief highlights a rigorous process of cultural and contextual adaptation of tools for assessing children in a low-resourced context in the global south.