Assessment of Infants and Toddlers With Visual Impairments

1
Assessment of Infants and Toddlers With Visual
Impairments

• Writing Reports and
• Planning Interventions
• Session 4

• Early Intervention Training Center for Infants
  and Toddlers With Visual Impairments
• FPG Child Development Institute, 2005

2
Objectives

• After completing this session, participants will
• identify critical components of assessment
  reports for intervention planning and describe
  guidelines for written reports for young children
  with visual impairments.
• describe strategies for collaborating with
  families and other team members to prepare
  intervention plans for infants and toddlers with
  visual impairments.

A
3
Objectives

• After completing this session, participants will
• describe the process of using assessment results
  to develop goals and outcomes that address family
  priorities and concerns and that promote optimal
  child development.
• describe guidelines for selecting and
  implementing interventions for infants and
  toddlers with visual impairments.

B
4
Objectives

• After completing this session, participants will
• describe the purposes of, guidelines for, and
  approaches to progress monitoring for infants and
  toddlers with visual impairments.

C
5
Assessment Reports

• Assessment reports are used to develop
• intervention plans and communicate with other
• team members, including families. The following
• information should be included in reports
• Background information
• Assessment results and observations
• Summary
• Recommendations

D
6
Background Information

• Childs name
• Date of birth
• Parents or guardians
• Date of assessment
• Name of agency responsible for assessment
• Members of assessment team
• Assessment coordinator (contact person).

E
7
Background Information

• Provide a positive description of the child.
• Describe relevant diagnostic and medical history,
  including specific medical concerns.
• Describe relevant family information, including
  resources, strengths, concerns, and priorities.

F
8
Assessments

• Describe the assessment methods and tools.
• Incorporate the familys perspectives throughout
  the report.

G
9
Assessment Results

• Describe the results of the assessments
• Sensory preferences and learning media
• Functional vision
• Learning style
• Development
• Functional behaviors
• Emergent literacy
• Compensatory skills
• Biobehavioral states
• Orientation and mobility

H
10
Summary

• Provide a positive summary of the childs and
• familys strengths and resources.

I
11
Recommendations

• List suggested goals or outcomes.
• Describe appropriate learning environments.
• Provide meaningful intervention strategies.
• Describe the potential need for additional
  assessments.

J
12
Report Writing Process

• Setting up a timeline to gather information from
  the family and professionals.
• Writing a preliminary draft.
• Integrating feedback from the team.
• Presenting the final report to the family.
• Answering the familys questions about the report.

K
13
Guidelines for Reports

• Clearly describe both child and family strengths
  and resources.

L
14
Guidelines for Reports

• Describe changes/growth/developmental progress
  since the last assessment, if appropriate.
• Incorporate perspectives of professionals and
  family members.
• Describe skills and abilities that the child
  seems ready to acquire, rather than weaknesses.

M
15
Guidelines for Reports

• Suggest intervention strategies that will
  facilitate development and participation in daily
  routines.
• Avoid professional jargon and technical language,
  unless it is also clearly defined in lay terms.
• Organize the report in a format that makes it
  easy for the reader to locate key information.

N
16
Guidelines for Reports

• Describe what was observed directly. Distinguish
  between direct observation and parent report.
• Thoughtfully and carefully analyze assessment
  information to identify results that should be
  included in the report.
• Cultural differences or other environmental
  factors may affect assessment results.

O
17
Transition Reports

• Transition reports are written prior to
  transition from early intervention to preschool
  services.
• They include information about
• the childs abilities and needs,
• the impact of the childs visual impairments,
• how the child learns best, and
• environmental conditions and teaching strategies
  that have been most successful.

P
18
Intervention Planning Content of the IFSP

• The infants or toddlers present levels of
  development based on objective criteria
• The familys resources, priorities, and concerns
• Measurable results or outcomes
• Specific early intervention services based on
  empirical research
• IDEA, 2004, Part C, Section 636

Q
19
Content of the IFSP

• A statement of the natural environments in which
• early intervention services will be provided.
• IDEA, 2004,
• Part C, Section 636

R
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Content of the IFSP

• The projected dates for initiation of services
  and the anticipated length, duration, and
  frequency of the services
• The identification of the service coordinator
  from the profession most immediately relevant to
  the infants, toddlers, or familys needs
• The steps to be taken to support the transition
  of the toddler with a disability to preschool or
  other appropriate services
• IDEA, 2004, Part C, Section 636

S
21
Collaboration

• Families should be involved in assessment
• planning because they
• have unique knowledge about their children, and
• are more likely to follow through on
  recommendations if they have been involved in the
  assessment process.

T
22
Specialized Knowledge ofTVIs and OMSs

• Teachers of children with visual impairments
• (TVIs) and orientation and mobility specialists
• (OMSs) should share knowledge about
• the impact of visual impairments on development,
• routine-based intervention strategies,
• service options, and
• parent groups.

U
23
Primary Steps in Identifying Goals and Outcomes

• Identify broad goal statements from assessment
  results
• Prioritize goals
• Translate goals into outcomes through task
  analysis
• Write measurable outcomes
• Wolery, 2004b

V
24
Identifying Goal Statements From Assessment
Results

• Assessment results
• can be identified using
• the developmental approach,
• the functional approach, and
• the ecological/person-centered approach.
• Wolery, 2004b

W
25
The Developmental Approach

• Interventionists assess childrens abilities in
  various domains to determine current level of
  development.
• Interventionists use information from assessments
  to determine assessment goals first by examining
  performance within each domain and then by
  identifying the next skills to be acquired in the
  sequence of development.
• Wolery, 2004b

X
26
The Functional Approach

• Interventionists
• organize assessment
• results to reflect
• areas of development
• that are meaningful to
• children and their
• families.
• Wolery, 2004b

Y
27
Ecological/Person-centered Approach

• The ecological/person-centered approach is
  similar to the functional approach.
• Goals are written based on the familys
  priorities and the childs interests and
  preferences.
• The focus is on facilitating independence and
  mastery of skills in childrens current settings,
  resulting in greater control over their
  environments and in more positive social
  relationships with others.
• Wolery, 2004b

Z
28
Meaningful Areas of Development

• Engagement is the amount of time a child spends
  interacting with the environment in a
  developmentally and contextually appropriate
  manner.
• Independence is functioning with as little
  assistance from others as possible and is often
  determined by sociocultural factors.
• Social relationships provide motivation and serve
  as the foundation for learning and competence.
• Hatton, McWilliam, Winton, 2003

AA
29
Considerations in Identifying Goals

• Priorities and preferences Is the identified
  skill a priority for the family and a preferred
  activity for the infant?
• Functionality Does the identified skill assist
  the infant to participate more actively in the
  familys daily routines? Does the skill increase
  the infants interactions with people and objects
  in everyday activities? If the infant does not
  learn the identified developmentally appropriate
  skill, will it have to be done for him or her?
• Dote-Kwan Chen, 1999, pp. 304-306

BB
30
Considerations in Identifying Goals

• Generality Can the skill be easily generalized
  to meaningful activities?
• Ease of integration Can the skill be practiced
  frequently and easily within the familys daily
  routines?
• Developmentally appropriate Is the skill
  developmentally appropriate for the infant?
• Dote-Kwan Chen, 1999, pp. 304-306

CC
31
Prioritizing Goals

• Goals can be separated into three categories
  critical goals, valuable goals, and desirable
  goals.
• Each team member should participate in
  prioritizing goals into one of the three
  categories.
• Families should take the lead in prioritizing
  goals.
• Wolery, 2004b

DD
32
Prioritizing Goals in Collaboration

• Priorities should include goals that
• provide access to inclusive environments,
• promote skills that generalize to other skills,
• reduce stigma,
• have multiple functions across settings, and
• facilitate ease of care.
• Wolery, 2004b

EE
33
Video Clip AM 4-01Effective IFSP Meetings
EIVI Training Center. (2006). Effective IFSP
meetings Video clip. (Available from Early
Intervention Training Center for Infants and
Toddlers With Visual Impairments, FPG Child
Development Institute, CB 8040, UNC, Chapel
Hill, NC, 27599-8040)
34
Translating Goals Into Outcomes

• After goals have been identified and prioritized,
  outcomes are developed through task analysis.
• Task analysis is the process of breaking down a
  task into smaller steps and sequencing the steps.
• Wolery, 2004b

FF
35
Steps of Task Analysis

• Specify the goal and identify task analyses
  already available for this goal.
• Break the goal into smaller outcomes or steps.
• Eliminate extraneous steps.
• Sequence the steps.
• Identify prerequisite behaviors.
• Wolery, 2004b
• Wolery, Bailey, Sugai, 1988

GG
36
Task Analysis

• If it is possible to identify a task analysis
  appropriate for a particular child that has
  already been developed, step 2 of this process
  can be eliminated.
• Task analyses are present in a variety of
  resources for children with disabilities,
  particularly curricula.
• Wolery, 2004b

HH
37
Individualizing Task Analysis

• Task analyses should be individualized for each
  child.
• Task analyses can be adapted by adjusting
• the detail of the task analysis (making the steps
  more or less concise),
• the level of guidance,
• the sequence of steps, and
• the beginning and end of a sequence of steps.
• Wolery, 2004b

II
38
Individualizing Task Analysis for Children With VI

• Children with visual impairments, including
  children with multiple disabilities, may need a
  more detailed task analysis that specifies the
  prompts needed to perform a task.
• Many children with visual impairments will also
  perform a task in a different sequence than
  sighted children.

JJ
39
Methods of Task Analysis

• Observe an individual who has mastered the
  identified task and record each step of the task.
• Perform the task yourself while writing down each
  step of the process.
• Conceptualize the task to identify the skills
  needed to complete the task appropriately.
• Wolery, 2004b

KK
40
Methods of Task Analysis

• Use knowledge of how children typically perform
  the task to identify the individual steps of the
  task.
• Identify the different levels of assistance that
  a child needs for each step of the task.
• Wolery, 2004b

LL
41
Task Analysis Eating With a Spoon
MM
42
Writing MeasurableOutcomes

• When writing outcomes consider
• Audience (the individual for whom the outcome is
  written)
• Behavior (what the child is expected to do)
• Condition (the materials, situations, and task
  procedures involved)
• Criteria (how well the child must perform in
  order for the outcome to be achieved)
• Mager, 1984

NN
43
Selecting and Implementing Interventions

• Interventions should help children achieve
  established goals.
• Interventions should mimic what naturally occurs
  in childrens lives.
• Families should be active collaborators in
  identifying interventions, and should be provided
  with choices of interventions for outcomes.
• Wolery, 2004b

OO
44
Recommended Practices Child-Focused
Interventions

• Adults design environments to promote childrens
  safety, active engagement, learning,
  participation, and membership.
• Adults use ongoing data to individualize and
  adapt practices to meet each childs changing
  needs.
• Wolery, 2005, p.73

PP
45
Recommended Practices Child-Focused
Interventions

• Adults use systematic procedures within and
  across environments, activities, and routines to
  promote childrens learning and participation.
• Wolery, 2005, p. 73

QQ
46
Implementing Interventions

• Interventions should
• facilitate interaction and independence,
• address goals on multiple occasions,
• address different goals embedded in the same
  activity,
• be organized in a routine-by-goal matrix,
• include appropriate adaptations, and
• be monitored continuously.
• Wolery, 2004b

RR
47
Addressing Outcomes Within Routines

• Resources to ensure that outcomes are
• addressed multiple times within and across
• various routines
• Embedding Schedule (Pretti-Frontczak Bricker,
  2004b)
• Activity/Routines-by-Goal Matrix (Wolery, 2004b)
• Objectives-Within-Routines Matrix (Dote-Kwan,
  Chen, 1999)

SS
48
Embedding Schedule

• Family routines are listed in the left
  hand-column and target goals are listed across
  the top.
• The top of the schedule also includes space to
  record the childs name, team members, and dates
  the schedule will be used.
• Visual cues are used to remind team members of
  learning opportunities.
• Pretti-Frontczak Bricker, 2004

TT
49
Activity/Routines-by-Goal Matrix

• The events within routines of an entire day are
  outlined in the left-hand column, and the goals
  or behaviors are listed across the top of the
  matrix.
• The left-hand column also list the times and
  locations of the events.
• Materials and strategies are described in the
  cells of the matrix.
• A cell is left blank if the goal is not addressed
  within the routine.
• Wolery, 2004b

UU
50
Objectives-Within-Routines Matrix

• Objectives are listed in the left hand column and
  the routines are listed across the top.
• Dote-Kwan and Chen (1999) also provide an example
  of routine-by-goal matrix of a child with
  blindness in a center-based program.
• Dote-Kwan Chen, 1999

VV
51
Progress Monitoring

• Progress monitoring is assessment that is
  repeated to measure growth over time.
• IDEA (2004) promotes progress monitoring for
  improving the achievement of children with
  disabilities.

WW
52
Purposes of Progress Monitoring

• To enhance learning experiences through more
  appropriate and individualized intervention
• To improve intervention planning through informed
  decision making
• To increase accountability through documentation
  of child progress
• To improve communication with families and other
  interventionists about child progress
• To raise expectations
• National Center on Student Progress Monitoring,
  2005

XX
53
Purposes of Progress Monitoring

• Wolery (2004a) identified three general purposes
• of monitoring
• To confirm earlier assessment results
• To develop an on-going record of progress
• To facilitate adjustments in intervention

YY
54
Progress Monitoring Guidelines

• Progress monitoring may occur in many different
  ways (e.g., counting and recording the frequency
  of a behavior during a given time period).
• Progress monitoring is more effective if it is
  conducted regularly and in an organized manner.
• Although objective assessment is a priority, it
  is equally important to make the process as
  unobtrusive and flexible as possible.

ZZ
55
Progress Monitoring Guidelines

• Monitoring should be based on the intervention
  plan.
• Monitoring should focus on salient aspects of
  development.
• The physical environment should be monitored
  regularly.
• Monitoring should occur in natural contexts.
• Wolery, 2004a

AAA
56
Progress Monitoring Guidelines

• Monitoring should always be planned.
• a. Identify information to reassess.
• b. Select a person to reassess.
• c. Identify the setting and activity for
  reassessment.
• d. Decide how the information will be
  collected.
• e. Identify who will analyze the information.
• Wolery, 2004a

BBB
57
Progress Monitoring Guidelines

• Monitoring should include multiple perspectives.
• Due to the changing and complex needs of young
  children, monitoring should occur frequently.
• Monitoring should have a purpose.
• Wolery, 2004a

CCC
58
Frequency of Monitoring

• IDEA (2004) requires that the IFSP be reviewed
  every 6 months at minimum, with reassessments
  every 12 months.
• DEC Recommended Practices encourage ongoing
  progress monitoring at least every 90 days
  (Neisworth and Bagnato, 2005).

DDD
59
Methods for Monitoring Progress

• Select a monitoring system that will provide
  information about childrens abilities relative
  to the criteria identified in the outcomes.
• Approaches to progress monitoring include
  observational monitoring, work sampling, and
  general outcome measures.
• Wolery, 2004a

EEE
60
Observational Monitoring

• There are three types of
• observational monitoring
• Direct behavioral observation
• Narrative description
• Judgment-based assessment
• Wolery, 2004a

FFF
61
Behavioral Observation

• Direct behavioral observation involves observing
• childrens behavior over time and recording
• occurrences of certain behaviors.
• Wolery (2004a) describes the five steps involved
• in direct behavioral observation
• Define behaviors in terms of dimensions
  (frequency, intensity, duration, latency,
  endurance, and accuracy), form, and function.

GGG
62
Steps of Direct Behavioral Observation

• Select data collection systems and design data
  sheets.
• Event sampling
• Time sampling
• Category sampling
• Levels-of-assistance recoding
• Task-analytic recording
• Wolery, 2004a

HHH
63
Steps of Direct Behavioral Observation

• Select observation situations and times
  (monitoring should occur frequently, during daily
  routines, and when the child uses the behavior).
• Check data collection accuracy.
• Observer bias
• Observer drift
• Wolery, 2004a

III
64
Steps of Direct Behavioral Observation

• Analyze data and make decisions by summarizing
  data (totaling the results), graphing data to
  make them easier to apply and communicate, and
  establishing data decision rules to provide
  consistency in decision making.
• Wolery, 2004a

JJJ
65
Narrative Description

• Narrative description is a form of direct
  observation that involves three ways to record
  information anecdotal records, running records,
  and specimen records.
• Collectively, the notes summarize childrens
  progress.
• Wolery, 2004a

KKK
66
Judgment-Based Assessment

• Judgment-based assessment involves evaluating and
  rating multiple factors, including developmental
  skills, temperament, learning style, and progress
  on goals.
• Rating scales are one form of judgment-based
  assessment that can be used to quantify
  information.
• Judgment-based assessment emphasizes including
  the perspective of different interventionists to
  provide more accurate assessments.
• Wolery, 2004a

LLL
67
Work Sampling

• Meisels (1993) developed an ongoing
• performance-based assessment system, called
• the Work Sampling System (WSS), that
• consists of
• developmental checklists,
• portfolios, and
• summary reports.
• Performance assessments monitor the
• development of children during daily routines in
• their natural environment.

MMM
68
The Ounce Scale

• Meisels and colleagues (2003) applied
• performance based monitoring to infants
• and toddlers in the Ounce Scale that
• includes
• an observation scale (a booklet with questions to
  guide the observation),
• a family album (a scrapbook for notes, samples of
  scribbles, photos, etc.), and
• a developmental profile (a rating scale).

NNN
69
Family Album
OOO
70
The Ounce Scale

• The instrument is organized around six
• major areas of development
• Personal connections
• Feelings about self
• Relationships with other children
• Understanding and communication
• Exploration and problem solving
• Movement and coordination
• Meisels, 2003

PPP
71
General Outcome Measure Approach

• Based on critical-skills mastery, Fuchs and Deno
  (1991) identified General Outcome Measurement
  (GOM) as an alternative approach for monitoring
  the rate of progress or growth in individual
  children and the effectiveness of intervention.
• GOM describes progress toward identified general
  outcomes.

QQQ
72
Features of the GOM Approach

• The GOM approach
• provides data that identify growth rates across
  developmental or chronological periods,
• increases the likelihood that interventionists
  and caregivers will use and have access to
  psychometrically based assessment results, and
• yields data that can be compared across multiple
  variables (time, children, and programs).
• ECRI-MGD1998, April

RRR
73
GOM-Based System for Ongoing Monitoring

• The Early Childhood Research Institute on
  Measuring Growth and Development (ECRI-MGD) was
  established in 1996 by investigators from the
  Universities of Minnesota, Kansas, and Oregon.
• The mission of ECRI-MGD is to develop a
  comprehensive system, based on the GOM approach,
  for ongoing monitoring of the skills and needs of
  young children birth to 8 years of age, including
  children with disabilities.

SSS
74
Individual Growth and Development Indicators
(IGDIs)

• Individual Growth and Development Indicators
  (IGDIs) can be used to evaluate interventions and
  monitor childrens ongoing individual
  development.
• Socially validated general growth outcomes serve
  as the foundation for the IGDIs. The child uses
  gestures, sounds, words, or sentences to convey
  wants and needs or to express meaning to others
  is an example of a general communication outcome
  identified by the ECRI-MGD.

TTT
75
Characteristics of IGDIs

• The University of Kansas Juniper Gardens
• Childrens Project collaborates with the ECR-
• MGD in developing IGDIs for children birth to 3
• years. IGDIs
• identify "authentic" child behaviors in natural
  settings.
• are standardized and replicable so that the data
  from separate administrations are comparable.

UUU
76
Characteristics of IGDIs

• meet the requirement of criterion validity in
  that they measure the general outcome that they
  are intended to measure.
• meet the requirements of reliability including
  inter-observer agreement, internal consistency,
  and reliability of alternate forms.
• are sensitive to growth over a short period of
  time so they can be used to evaluate intervention
  effectiveness.
• Juniper Garden Childrens Project, 2003-2004

VVV
77
Characteristics of IGDIs

• are sensitive to intervention effects.
• are efficient and economical, allowing
  practitioners to gather data that are usable for
  decision-making without unduly adding to their
  workload.
• are tools that improve the communication and
  collaboration between parents and professionals
  serving their children.
• Juniper Garden Childrens Project, 2003-2004
• http//www.lsi.ku.edu/jgprojects/igdi/What20is20
  IGDI.htm

WWW
78
IGDIs for Infants and Toddlers

• Early Communication Indicator (ECI)
• Early Movement Indicator (EMI)
• Early Social Indicator (ESI)
• Early Problem Solving Indicator (EPSI)
• Indicator of Parent-Child Interaction (IPCI)
• These IGDIs are available to download from the
• Juniper Gardens Childrens Project Web site,
• http//www.jgcp.ku.edu

XXX