Formal Methods of Toddlers and Infants - Assessment of Autism Spectrum Disorder - Providing Services (ISFP)

Formal Assessments for Toddlers and Infants

As I was doing research for this part of my assignment, I felt like I hit the jackpot when I found this pdf document, https://www.unf.edu/uploadedFiles/aa/fie/resource.pdf, entitled Birth to Three Screening and Assessment Resource Guide.  I highly suggest you use this document as a resource when it comes to assessments.  The document is 120 pages long.  It goes through numerous types of birth to 3 assessments. It has a child screening and assessment matrix that gives the name of the instrument and its author(s), the ages that the assessment is for, and a brief description.  It also gives the page number(s) of the pdf document that you can read even more information about each assessment.   This document is very well laid out and easy to read.  Use the table of contents on page 2 of the pdf to guide yourself to the types of assessments you want to learn more about.  For example, there are developmental screening instruments, child assessment instruments, and multi-function child assessment instruments.  In the table of contents, they list each assessment discussed individually, so you can easily find the one you would like to learn more about.

Assessment of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Again, I am going to provide a link for you to look at for this part of the assignment.  The website is http://www.behavior-consultant.com/aut-dx-devices.htm.  This site is from Reinforcement Unlimited: Clinical and Behavioral Consultants.  There are 51 assessments described on this website.   Assessments can be found under these categories:  Diagnostic Assessment, Developmental Assessment, Adaptive Assessment, Communication Assessment, Infant/Toddler Assessment, Standardized Tests of Intelligence, Tests of Nonverbal Intelligence, Academic Screening, Behavior Assessment, Family Assessment, and Other Assessment Options.  

I like the following video because if you have never worked with children that are on the spectrum, the two ladies on this video describe what they are looking for when assessing a child.  It is only 5 minutes long, and I think it is worth a look.

Providing Services - IFSP

An IFSP stands for Individual Family Service Plan.  These plans are integrated for children ages birth to 3 children that have been verified with a disability.  Essentially, it is an IEP for very young children.  According to the website, http://www.specialeducationguide.com/early-intervention/the-who-what-why-of-an-individual-family-services-plan-ifsp/,  "The IFSP takes a family-based

approach to services, due to the central concept that supporting a child’s family lends itself to supporting the child. This means that the IFSP is developed with input from the child’s entire family, and it includes features that are designed to support the entire family."

While an IFSP is a federally mandated program, each state has different criteria of when and how it should be implemented.  According to the site, http://www.ifspweb.org/legal.html, in the state of Nebraska, services must be provided through an IFSP within 30 days of the parent giving consent for those services.

Components of the IFSP, as far as what is part of the written plan, include the people involved: family and service providers, the current level of functioning of the child:  assessment results, family information, services that will be provided, and outcomes or goals for the student that the team will help him/her reach.

Sometimes there is confusion about the difference between an IEP and an IFSP, an I think the following video does a great job of explaining this in under 2 minutes.

Intelligence & Adaptive Behavior: Formal & Informal Adaptive Behavior Assessments: Eligibility Criteria for Cognitive Disability

Intelligence & Adaptive Behavior

When discussing intelligence and adaptive behaviors, it would be good to understand a definition of each of these. According to www.merriam-webster.com intelligence is 

"1 a (1) :  the ability to learn or understand  or to deal with new or trying situations : the skilled use of reason (2) :  the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one's environment or to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria (as tests)."

According to https://aaidd.org, adaptive behavior is ". . . the collection of conceptual, social, and practical skills that all people learn in order to function in their daily lives."

Just using the definitions above, I would say that one's adaptive behavior is greatly affected byone's intelligence, or ability to learn or deal with new situations.  If one does not have the ability to learn or handle different situations, then it may be difficult at times to have appropriate adaptive behavior in which you would have to rely on your intelligence to adjust your behavior at different times.  Please check out the website,  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207535/. IIt is Chapter 5 of a book called Mental Retardation: Determining Eligibility for Social Security Benefits, copyright 2002.  The title of the Chapter is The Relationship of Intelligence and Adaptive Behavior.  This site goes on to discuss in detail the classification criteria for intellectual functioning as well as adaptive behavior, then further on in the chapter it states this: 

                  "The relationship between measures of adaptive behavior and intellectual functioning is                           highly variable and has multiple influences. Correlations between adaptive and                                       intellectual functioning have varied in published studies from near zero (no relationship)                         to nearly 1.0 (perfect relationship). The strength of this relationship is important because it                       influences diagnostic decisions significantly."

It then goes on to discuss the variables that influence correlations which include scale content, competencies versus perceptions, sample variance, ceiling and floor problems, and level of mental retardation.  Rather than regurgitating the information, I would highly suggest you look at this website.  It is complete with thorough explanations of scores and cut-off scores, as well as tables that can help you understand the information. 

I think it is important to note that the classification of mental retardation is no longer in use, that terminology has been changed to intellectual disability, and that is how you will see it on an MDT form.

Formal & Informal Adaptive Behavior Assessments

The information from http://www.assessmentpsychology.com/adaptivebehavior.htm is helpful to refer to for this section of information.  There are several formal adaptive behavior assessments.  They include:

Scales of Independent Behavior (SIB-R)

Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale (Vineland ABS)

AAMR Adaptive Behavior Scale (AAMR ABS)

Inventory for Client and Agency Planning (ICAP)

The following is a chart found on http://www.assessmentpsychology.com/adaptivebehavior.htm.  This chart describes the materials used for each assessment.  To find out more specifics, as far as what exactly is tested by each assessment, please click on link above.  Once to the site, scroll down until you find the chart below.  Right after that chart, there is a chart for each assessment describing its content.  

Materials
SIB-R	Full Scale	Manual: 287 pp. Response Booklet: 26 pp. Optional Interview Easel: 172 pp. Planning Worksheet: 2pp. (in response booklet) Software (Scoring & Reporting; PC/Mac)
	Short Form	Response Booklet: 8 pp. Response Booklet adapted for people who are blind Planning Worksheet: 2pp. Shares Full Scale Manual, Interview Easel, and software.
	Early Development Form	Response Booklet: 8 pp. Planning Worksheet: 2pp. Shares Full Scale Manual, Interview Easel, and software.
Vineland ABS	Interview Expanded Form	Manual: 321 pp. Item Booklet: 16 pp. Score Summary & Profile Booklet: 12pp. Program Planning Report: 8 pp. Report to Parents: 4pp. (also in Spanish) Software (Apple II/PC)
	Interview Survey Form	Manual: 301 pp. Record Booklet: 12 pp. (also in Spanish) Report to Parents: 4pp. (also in Spanish) Software (Apple II/PC)
	Classroom Edition	Manual: 175 pp. Questionnaire Booklet: 16 pp. Report to Parents: 4pp. (also in Spanish) Software (PC)
AAMR ABS 2nd Ed.	School Edition	Manual: 118 pp. Examination Booklet: 16pp. Profile/Scoring Form: 4 pp. Software (Scoring & Reporting; Apple/Mac/PC)
	Residential & Community Edition	Manual: 76 pp. Examination Booklet: 16pp. Profile/Scoring Form: 4 pp. Software (Scoring & Reporting; Apple/Mac/PC)
ICAP		Manual: 155 pp. Response Booklet: 16 pp. (also in Spanish) Software (Scoring & Database; PC)

Informal assessment include asking the student, parent, teachers, friends, or anyone else that has knowledge of the student in various settings to fill out an informal survey asking questions about how they get a long in a particular setting.  This link, http://www.calhounschools.org/cms/lib03/GA01920487/Centricity/Domain/43/Informal%20Assessment%20of%20Adaptive%20Behavior.pdf, will take you to a PDF document created by Calhoun Schools in Georgia.  It is an example of what you could use for an informal assessment. 

I think that it is important when interviewing individuals about a student that you get a wide array of people.  If you just get the parents information you might not catch that when the student is at a sports practice, there always seems to be an issue. Students act differently in various settings.  It is important to get most, if not all, of the student's settings covered.  

Eligibility Criteria for Cognitive Disability

When researching this part of the assignment, I went to http://www.unl.edu/asdnetwork/documents/guidelines_resources/verificationguidelines2008.pdf, which is a PDF, entitled Verification Guidelines for Children with Disabilities. In this document you can find the verification criteria for all 13 categories that a student could be possibly verified under when qualifying for special education.  If you go to page 95 of the actual document (or page 99 according to the pdf page) you will find the eligibility requirements when it comes to a cognitive disability.  On page 96, it begins discussing the verification requirements.  After that it goes on through page 105 of the document (109 according to pdf page), and discusses definitions, frequently asked questions, and discusses procedures to determine adverse affects on developmental/educational performance.    

This is a fantastic document and I encourage you to check it out and keep it bookmarked, or better yet, print it out, and keep with you to refer to regarding all 13 stated categories of verification.  

Historical Contemporary Issues - RTI: Tier 1,2,3 - Determining Emotional Disturbance

Historical and Contemporary Issues Related to Student Behavior Interventions

Students with behavioral disabilities are generally given a bad rap.  Sometimes teachers immediately pre-diagnose the student as unteachable, and other times, teachers are truly doing their best to teach the student, but are unequipped to handle certain behaviors.  Through training and guidance most teachers are able to help all students, behaviorally disabled or not.  A lot has changed from before 1970 until today.  

According to an article from The Future of Children "until the mid-1970s, laws in most states allowed school districts to refuse to enroll any student they considered "uneducable," a term generally defined by local school administrators." So essentially what this means is that the majority of students with significant disabilities were not being educated in schools.  Many ended up in institutions without any educational guidance whatsoever.    It wasn't until 1975, with Public Law 94-142, that "education for all" began.  

Public Law 94-142 (Education for All Handicapped Children Act)

This law provided the following:

1.  All students with disabilities receive a free, appropriate public education

2.  Provided a way to help with added costs of having such programs

This law had evolved since 1975, and it is now known, since 1990,  as IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act).  This law is so important because of the impact it has had on education for those with disabilities.  In order to receive funds, states and local districts had to do the following:

1.  Put a child-find system in place:  This includes a way to find students with disabilities, give students assessments to determine the extent the disability affects their education, and have annual meetings (IEPs) to determine the best options for the student.  

Sometimes people get frustrated with the amount of government control there is when it comes to special education.  Personally, I am frustrated that there HAS TO BE so much government control because there were people that would not educate all students to the best of their abilities, or felt that students with disabilities were not able to learn.  I have had 3 students in the last 5 years that had severe behavioral issues.  I will say that the general education teachers I worked with, for the most part, were willing to learn how to help these students.  There were always a few though that thought it was ridiculous that they had to follow a behavior plan or that the student ". . . was just able to get away with whatever they wanted to do. . ."  It is for these few teachers, that laws had to be instituted. So that the student would have access to education in ALL of their classes, not just in the classes in which the teachers were willing to work with the student.  

Response to Intervention: Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3

I have had numerous positive behavioral supports (PBS) trainings in the course of the last few years. I LOVE it!  This is something I would love to present on and go to area schools to help implement.  I was part of the group that was selected to help get it implemented K-12 in the small school that I was working at the time.  Our training was from Diana Browning Wright, a very well-known researcher and presenter of PBS.  What I love about PBS is that it can be done in your own classroom only, or ideally it can be implemented through an entire school system.  I fully believe that over half of the students on my caseload would not be in special education if PBIS was fully implemented in the school system.

It involves having 3 Tiers.  Think of a pyramid.  The bottom tier are "interventions" or just protocols that every single student in the district receives.  Some examples of Tier 1 interventions that all students receive are classroom teaching strategies like being greeted at the door with a smile, 5-1 positive/negative ratio, teacher positioning in the classroom, universal screener, and an expectations matrix that is taught to all students, enforced, and rewarded.  These are just a few things that all students could receive with Tier 1.  By implementing a strong Tier 1 in your school, 85-90% of your students will respond in a positive way.

For the small percentage that is not influenced by the Tier 1 plan, Tier 2 interventions can be tried.  Tier 2 is the middle level of the pyramid.  Examples of Tier 2 interventions include: targeted social skills interventions, school-based mentors, alternatives to suspensions, simple behavior plans (check-in/check-out, contracts, etc.), small group work.  For most students having to receive Tier 2 interventions, most well respond positively.  

For the small percentage that does not respond well, Tier 3 interventions will be utilized. According to pbis.org, these interventions can include guidance for the student to use new skills as a replacement for problem behaviors, some re-arrangement of the environment so that problems can be prevented and desirable behaviors encouraged, and procedures for monitoring, evaluating, and reassessing of the plan as necessary.

For this assignment, I needed to give examples of interventions at each level.  I literally could talk about PBS/PBIS all day.  I love it.  I love all of the interventions that could possibly be used.  Discussing just those alone would take quite awhile.  Again, I think a dream job of mine would be to go to schools and work with individual teachers on implementing this in their classrooms.  I would love to be a part of a district in which it was fully implemented with fidelity at all levels.  The impact on students and teachers would be immeasurable.

Determining Emotional Disturbance

Emotional Disturbance is one of the 13 categories that students can be verified under to receive special education services.  How exactly does one determine if a student should verify under this category?  This link, http://www.esc20.net/users/0040/docs/EvaluationResources/Quick%20Guide-ED.pdf, lays it out very concisely.  As you can see by looking at this pdf, a student must be exhibiting one or more of 5 different criteria in order to be verified with an emotional disturbance. 

The website, http://cecp.air.org/fba/, is excellent for learning about functional behavior assessments and what can be learned from them, as well as how to create a behavior plan from using an assessment.  It is well organized and easy to find the specific information that you are looking for about assessments and plans. 

I have had one student that has verified with an emotional disturbance.  I would say that out of all my students and all of their varying disabilities, the student with ED has been the one that I have lost the most sleep over.  This student could be valedictorian of the class if they chose to be.  MAPs science and reading scores are off the charts.  Just when we think the student is on a roll and things are going good, just like that, the train derails.  General education teachers and myself are all mystified by what keeps this student from embracing success.  In this case, we will continue to work hard to help this student and provide the supports necessary to help make them successful and to see their worth.  

Implementing MTSS & Progress Monitoring

IMPLEMENTING MTSS

Before discussing implementation of MTSS, it would probably be a good idea to at least have a definition of MTSS.  The acronym stands for Multi-Tiered System of Support.  In order to make this relevant to Nebraska, I found this link, https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.guidebook.com/upload/31660/extra/RDAMTSS.pdf, which is an AQuESTT for Nebraska pdf presentation.  In this presentation it defines NeMTSS (Nebraska Multi-tiered System of Support) as the following:

"A school improvement process focused on using data (instructional and student data) to guide decision making at all levels within districts and schools." 

The presentation goes on to talk about the components of MTSS which include the following:  

1.  Instruction & Intervention:  Core supports for ALL students and interventions for those that need them. 

2.  Assessment System: This involves a screening system for all students to determine who needs interventions, and a progress monitoring system that helps identify if the interventions put in place are working.

3.  Fidelity & Support System:  Interventions need to be implemented with fidelity so that the student team can determine whether or not they are effective or not.  Faculty and staff need strong support to help them implement interventions with fidelity and continuous training about interventions that are successful when implemented with fidelity.

4.  Continuous Improvement Process:  This is important because no matter the profession, analyzing and identifying ways to get better is vital for continued success.

5.  Teaming: MTSS is implemented involving teams.  There is not one person solely responsible for the entire thing.  Teams help distribute the workload to help with the stress (real or imagined) that some faculty members might feel.  

I have yet to work in a school that has full implementation of MTSS.  At a former district, we had attempted to implement PBS (Positive Behavioral Supports), which is a tiered system of the behavioral side of MTSS.  I would imagine that implementing either of these would have positives and negatives. 

The largest and most difficult hurdle to jump in implementation is the fact that it is change.  CHANGE!  A scary, no, terrifying word to many, many, many teachers.  "But I have been doing it this way for years!" "I have lots of successful students, why do I have to start doing all of this?"  "Not every student needs a pat on the back for every little thing that they should just do on their own."  

Yikes!  Believe it or not, these are all things that I have heard from teachers scared of that 6-letter word, change.  

I personally find it ridiculous the amount of hoops an administrator has to jump through to try to get everyone on board.  I am from the old school of thought that if your boss tells you to do something, you do it (obviously within moral/legal boundaries and for the betterment of students).  However, what a lot of teachers don't realize is that just like teachers have to CHANGE for the times for their students, administrators have had to CHANGE their approach in order to get teachers, the same teachers that complain they have to change, to do what is asked of them!  So in essence, they are just like the students they are complaining about having to change for, right?  Maybe with my old school of thought, I'm being hypocritical of those that don't like change, because I'm annoyed that administrators have had to change...hmmmm....See change is a diabolical idea that, if not handled carefully, can destroy the implementation process before it ever really gets started.  

When this crazy idea of change is handled and people are ready to move forward, great things for students start to occur once implementation begins.  Is it hard work to get started?  Absolutely!  Is it going to take maybe 2 or possibly more years of hard work?  Maybe!  But with everyone working together and supporting each other, it is definitely worth the outcome.  Teachers are happier, students are happier and better served, and once implemented, the "work" that everyone complained about having to becomes second nature and is more rewarding than whatever was being done prior to implementation.

I would highly suggest looking at the link that I shared at the beginning, and I will put it here again.  It does a great job of getting into the nuts and bolts of MTSS as far as exactly what it is and the implementation process.  Once again, that link was https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.guidebook.com/upload/31660/extra/RDAMTSS.pdf.

PROGRESS MONITORING

DATA, DATA, DATA!  MTSS is a systematic educational approach that is based on data.  Once implementation has started, a form of progress monitoring has to be determined in order to track and keep data on interventions and student progress. 

Aimsweb is one way that is familiar to me, it is what the district I am currently working in uses for progress monitoring.  There are several youtube videos showing how to use Aimsweb, but you must be careful, because this year, Aimsweb changed its look and how it uses the data.  So the following video is short, but gives screenshots of what the new Aimsweb looks like and how you can use the data.  A lot of other videos will be showing you what it used to look like and how to use it, prior to this year. 

MobyMax is another form of progress monitoring/intervention that can be used and is encouraging for some students because of the game time they can earn while doing the best that they can.  The following video walks you through how to get started on MobyMax and shows screenshots for what it looks like for placement tests, progress monitoring, and goal-setting.  Please take a look to check out MobyMax and to compare it to AimsWeb.  

In conclusion, full implementation of MTSS cannot be complete without an effective way to progress monitor students.  AimsWeb and MobyMax are two effective ways to progress monitor students in several subject areas.  There are many others, and many that are not necessarily web-based. Hopefully looking at these two gives you some idea of what is out there to help you in your classroom.

Week 5: Test Administration

When administering tests, there are many things to think about: the student's age, determining scores, and how to improve student results. 

Chronological Age vs. Biological Age

The difference between these two is quite simple.  Chronological age is how long you have been alive.  Subtract your birthdate from today's date and that is your chronological age.  On the other hand, biological age is how old the person seems or appears to be.  We have all met someone in our life that we think is way older or younger than we would guess.  For example, I met a couple the other day, and I would have guessed the wife to be 10 - 15 years younger than the husband.  Turns out, she was the exact same age.  Her chronological age was 50, but her biological age, what age she seemed to be to me, was 35 - 40 years old.

This is important when testing students, especially when you are testing for behaviors.  A student may be chronologically 16 years old, but could be acting or seeming as if they are 5 years old. This would be an important observation to note in that case. 

SCORES:  Raw, Ceiling, and Basal

Let's start talking about raw scores first.   These are the easiest to figure out.  You simply count up how many questions the student answered correctly.  If there were 10 problems and each question was worth two, you would know that if he/she had a score of  6, he/she only answered three questions correctly.

Basal and ceiling scores sound difficult at first, but once you see an example, they are pretty simple to figure out.  Please click the following link to find step by step instruction on how to find basal and ceiling scores:  http://familyliteracy.tiu11.org/foundations/Articulate/LAP/engage.html.

I have administered the Woodcock Johnson test numerous times to students.  It is very important to understand how to find the basal and ceiling scores for the assessments that are within that test.  The basal score helps you determine at which level the student should start within the test.  Should they start at the 1st grade level questions even though they are 16?  For some students, absolutely, for others, absolutely not.  Figuring out this score can help make that determination.  The ceiling score is used to determine at which point you are doing giving the assessment.  For example, when asking questions of a student, some test might say you can be done once they have gotten 4 in a row wrong. There is no point in continuing to ask questions of the student at a more difficult level, when most likely, they will just continue to get them wrong.

If basal and ceiling scores are not done properly, results can be invalid, which can lead to improper verification, which can lead to a process that may or may not be necessary.  There are many videos and websites that can help you understand basal and ceiling scoring.  It would be worth your time to do more research if you have any questions at all about this topic.

Improving Student Results

In today's educational world, improving student results, specifically student TEST results is very important.  Please click the link to read how one school has worked hard to not only improve their student test scores, but to use those test scores in a way that helps all students:  http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin366.shtml.  It is important to note that this is how one school is helping ALL of their students achieve higher scores, not just in special education.  I think a lot can be taken from it though that can be relevant in the special education world.  My goal is to work for a staff, or maybe eventually someday lead a staff, that would have the willingness to put in a system like the school in the article.  It is so difficult to get buy-in from staff members.  I have watched my husband, who is an administrator, try to implement a system that helps ALL students, and that would help monitor "bubble" students.  There are some teachers that resist change, and I mean RESIST it.  So to be a part of a staff willing to do the things necessary to accomplish what is best for kids, even if it might be hard work at first, would be a goal of mine.