A Comprehensive Approach to Early Childhood Assessment and Intervention Kelly-Vance, L., Ryalls, B. O.,

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A Comprehensive Approach to Early Childhood
Assessment and Intervention Kelly-Vance, L.,
Ryalls, B. O., Dempsey, J.University of
Nebraska Omaha

• NASP 2011 San Francisco

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Acknowledgements and Appreciation

• Papillion-LaVista Public School District, Omaha,
  NE
• Especially Kristy Feden!
• Sarpy County Head Start, NE
• School Psychology Graduate Students
• Many, many children and their families
• University Committee on Research
• Artwork by Julie K. Hart

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What is Play Assessment?

• An observation of a childs skills in the context
  of play
• Cognitive (thinking and problem-solving)
• Social
• Behavioral
• A system that results in a description of a
  childs competencies and areas of need
• A method of monitoring a childs progress in
  curriculum and intervention

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Use of Play Assessments

• Individual assessments to determine performance
  levels in developmental domains
• Screening classes or groups to determine group
  performance
• Progress monitoring of individuals, groups,
  and/or classrooms
• Program evaluation to determine program
  effectiveness

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What is play intervention?

• An intervention process in which the areas of
  need that are identified in play assessment are
  addressed in the context of play

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Why play interventions?

• Teachers easily understand the intervention
• Children are in their natural environment
• Parents can learn how to conduct interventions

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Conducting Play Assessments

• Observational Approach
• how to

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Observation Sessions

• Determine setting
• Laboratory
• Classroom
• Home
• Select time of day (free play is ideal in
  classrooms)
• Make sure that the toys can elicit a wide range
  of skills

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Observation of Play

• Observe at least 30 minutes to determine level of
  exploratory/pretend play
• Document the amount of time for play behaviors
  (explained later)
• For supplementary subdomains, observe until child
  reaches age appropriate levels of play or until
  you determine that the results are accurate
• Validate from the teacher

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Level of Facilitation

• Do not guide the childs play
• Do not let others guide the childs play
• For categories that were not observed, you can
  set up an opportunity may need to ask teacher
• If category never observed and no opportunities
  are available, ask teacher for input

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Observation of Social/Behavior

• Also note any social and/or behavioral strengths
  and possible areas of need
• Initiation of play
• Receptivity of play when others initiate
• Variety of playmates
• Adult vs. child play

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Additional Developmental Domains

• Can also note on the following
• Language
• Motor
• Interests

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Coding Play

• Forms and coding guidelines
• How to analyze the observations

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Assessment Forms

• Observation and Coding
• Summary and Progress
• PIECES
• Developmental Progression of Play

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What is measured.

• Supplemental Play Skills
• Problem Solving Skills and Planning - measures
  cognitive development
• Discrimination/ Classification Skills
• Quantification Skills
• Drawing Skills
• Sequencing Abilities

• Core Play Skills measures cognitive development
• Exploratory Play
• Simple Pretend Play
• Complex Pretend Play
• Social Skills
• Behavior
• Language can be noted

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Social Play Partners

• Number
• Child(ren)/Adults

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Social Play Direction

• Initiator child initiates play with another
  child or adult
• Follower child follows play of another child or
  adult
• Cooperative child has cooperative play
  interchanges with another child or adult

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Communication

• Language heard during play document
• This can be a conversation with an adult or
  another child or the target child could be
  talking to him/herself

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Supplemental Areas of Assessment

• Strategic Behavior and Problem Solving Skills
• Discrimination/Classification Skills
• Quantification Skills
• Drawing Skills
• Sequencing Abilities

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Reporting results

• Highest level of play coded for each subdomain
  (i.e., core and supplemental)
• Percent of time in pretend vs. exploratory play
• Number of steps in pretend play (when applicable)
• Description of the variety of play acts, toys
  used, and level of facilitation
• Social dimensions of play
• Behaviors that may facilitate or interfere with
  play

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Results of play assessment

• Competencies
• Student observed an age appropriate skill in the
  play subdomain
• Reported skills
• Teacher reported an age appropriate skill in the
  play subdomain but the skill was not observed
• Emerging skills
• Skill was observed rarely or only with
  facilitation
• Areas of need
• Skill was not observed or reported

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Intervention System

• Using the assessment data

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System Level 1

• Screening of all children using the PIECES
  observation and coding system
• Can be conducted 3-4 times per year
• Purpose
• To determine group progress and program
  effectiveness
• To determine which children need additional
  interventions
• Must have a criteria for moving to Level 2

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System Level 2

• Small group or individual interventions
• Interventions are 1-2 times per week
• Progress is monitored 1-2 times per week
• Evaluate progress every 4-6 weeks
• Establish a criteria for moving from Level 2 to
  Level 3 and from Level 2 to Level 1

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System Level 3

• Level 3 Individual or small group interventions
• Progress is monitored 2-3 times per week
• Interventions are 3-5 times per week
• Evaluate progress every 4-6 weeks

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Play Interventions

• Determine from assessment results
• Intensity depends on need
• Small group or individual interventions can be
  used
• Frequent progress monitoring is required because
  young children change very quickly
• Peer comparisons are helpful in determining if
  improvement is due to development or the
  intervention

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Play Interventions can include

• Parents
• Teachers
• Peers
• Siblings
• Older children in a school if applicable
• Hart found that parents are knowledgeable about
  play and believe it is important to development
  but their childs play level did not reflect the
  belief

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Interventions

• Individual and group intervention strategies
• Teach new skills
• Model
• Add ons
• Increase emerging skills
• Verbal prompts
• Play partners
• Use verbal praise and encouragement throughout
  intervention

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References

• Cherney, I. C., Kelly-Vance, L., Gill, K., Ruane,
  A., Ryalls, B. O. (2003). The effects of
  stereotyped toys and gender on play assessment in
  18-47 month old children. Educational Psychology,
  22, 95-106.
• Kelly-Vance, L., Needelman, H., Troia, K.,
  Ryalls, B. O. (1999). Early childhood assessment
  A comparison of the Bayley Scales of Infant
  Development and a Play-Based Technique.
  Developmental Disabilities Bulletin, 27, 1-15.
• Kelly-Vance, L., Ryalls, B. O. (2008). Best
  practices in play assessment and intervention. In
  J. Grimes A. Thomas, (Eds.), Best practices in
  school psychology V, vol. 2, 549-559.
• Kelly-Vance, L., Ryalls, B. O. (2005). A
  systematic, reliable approach to play assessment
  in preschoolers. School Psychology International,
  26, 398-412.
• Kelly-Vance, L., Ryalls, B. O., Glover, K. G.
  (2002). The use of play assessment to evaluate
  the cognitive skills of two- and three-year old
  children. School Psychology International, 23,
  169-185.
• Mallory, J., Kelly-Vance, L, Ryalls, B. O.
  (2010). Incorporating divergent thinking into
  play interventions for preschool children with
  developmental risk factors. The International
  Journal of Creativity and Problem Solving, 20,
  57-71.

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Contact Information

• Lisa Kelly-Vance
• lkelly-vance_at_unomaha.edu
• Brigette Ryalls
• bryalls_at_unomaha.edu
• Jessica Dempsey
• jessicadempsey_at_unomaha.edu
• www.unomaha.edu/schoolpsych/playresources.php