Early Development Index

The Early Development Index or EDI is the brainchild of Magdalena Janus and Dan Offord at the Offord Centre for Child Studies [1] at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. Like its Australian successor, AEDI [2], it provides a community-level measure of young children’s development in five domains: language and cognitive skills, emotional maturity, physical health and well-being, communication skills and general knowledge, and social competence. EDI and AEDI encourage the use of epidemiological data to promote social cohesion and harness community resources in the search for ways to improve children's health and development.