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Chapter 3

Determining Educational Needs through Assessment

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Purposes of Assessment

• Identify developmental delays• Diagnose nature of the delay• Develop IEP and determine placement• Develop instruction• Evaluate student progress• Determine support services• Determine skills for community participation

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Types of Assessment

• Formal– Physical fitness tests, – gross motor development tests, – skill and/or motor proficiency tests

• Informal– Checklists, – rubrics, – activities, – observations

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Components of Assessment for the IEP Process

• Formal tests

• Parental Reports

• Observations in general environment

• Conversations with related service personnel, classroom teachers, and general physical educator

• Conversations with the student

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Assessment Process at a Glance

• Referral• Screening• Formal assessment• Determine strengths and weaknesses• Make conclusions and recommendations• Determine IEP goals with the IEP team,

based on evaluation process• Determine placement based on IEP goals• Implement and monitor IEP, report regularly• Revisit IEP yearly• Reevaluate every 3 years

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Authentic Assessment

• Testing in the natural environment in which the skills will be used

• Provides a picture of skill performance under theinfluence of constraints

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Test Categories• Normative-referenced

– Compares performance to that of others of the same age and gender

• Criterion-referenced– Evaluates students ability to

complete a task based on set criteria

• Content-referenced– Evaluates performance on the

parts of a skill

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Test Selection Considerations

• Need for standardized test

• Adequacy of test standardization

• Administrative feasibility

• Student’s type of disability

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Test Standardization

• Given to a large group of people under the same conditions

• Tests should be– Valid (measures what it claims to

measure)– Reliable (similar results with repeated

administrations)– Objective (free from bias)

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Areas Impacting Feasibility

• Cost

• Equipment

• Training of tester

• Purpose of the test

• Time

• Personnel

• Standardization sample

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Testing Guidelines

• Become familiar with the test• Use ‘crib notes’• Well lighted, comfortable environment• Carefully planned placement of equipment• Midmorning or midafternoon• Establish rapport with the student• Allow repeat trials if needed• Limit time period

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Organizing Results

• Interpret results shortly after testing• Chart data to assist with locating strengths

and weaknesses• Analyze data to identify themes and

determine possible underlying causes of motor deficits

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Reporting Results• Always start with something positive about the

student• Describe strengths and weaknesses• Report subtest scores and include a narrative

describing how the student executed test items

• Include information from informal testing and conversations with the student, parent, general physical educator, and/or related service personnel

• Include conclusions and recommendations

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Qualifying Criteria

• Varies by school district• Beyond one standardization below the

mean, below the 25th percentile, or below one year for the age of the student are common guidelines

• Must also consider performance in the affective domain

Example

• Adam: 8 year old– Diagnosis: Asperger syndrome (Autism

Spectrum Disorder)

– Tested for motor skills

• Test of Gross Motor Development-2

• Bruininks-Ostersky Test of Motor Proficiency

• Visual screening for visual acuity, depth perception and tracking ability

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Adam’s Strengths

• Running• Galloping• Sliding• Leaping• Sliding to the left• Stopping the

response stick

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• Tracing Mazes• Cutting out a circle• Color Vision• Visual acuity at near

point• Central fusion at near

point• Vertical phoria at far

point

Adams’ Challenges

• Hop 3 times in succession• Follow through when jumping, striking, kicking, throwing, and

rolling• Trapping the ball against the chest• Dribbling a ball• Sit-ups• Long jumps• Balance on one foot, eyes open and closed and stepping

over a stick• Synchronizing limbs on opposite sides of the body• Lateral visual phoria at near and far point, central fusion and

stereo vision at far point, and acuity of right eye at far point

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Observations

• Only child, living with mother and father• Non-stop talker• Loves dinosaurs, shared and described names of many

dinosaurs• Sharing slowed down testing process• Second day of testing he was upset the test administrator

did not remember the name of the dinosaurs• Hurried through test items, not scoring well• When he was encouraged to slow down, on certain items of

the test he scored well

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Results – page 1

• Showed ability to stop the response stick quickly, indicating he understood cause and effect and had an above average reaction time

• His attention to detail when cutting out a circle showed visual motor control on up close items

• His inability to do sit-ups showed lack of abdominal muscle strength

• His low performance on the long jump shows lack of explosive strength

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Results – page 2

• His inability to hop on non-preferred leg, to use both arms when jumping, and inability to slide to the right shows possible delayed development on the left side of the body

• His inability to synchronize movement of limbs across the center of his body indicates a delay in cross-lateral coordination

• His lack of central vision and inability to balance on one foot with his eyes open, to step over a stick while walking on a balance beam, to control his dribble, to catch a thrown ball, or to trap the ball between his arms and chest suggests a lack of depth perception

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Recommendations

• Program developed for Adam should– Strengthen abdominal muscles, extensor, abductor, and

adductor hip muscles– Complete gross motor activities wearing weighted cuffs

on his left wrist and ankle to assist with increasing kinesthetic feedback and muscular development

– Participate in a swimming program to promote cross-lateral coordination

– See a visual development specialist to determine depth perception and methods of remediation

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Fitness Examples

• Right-Fit: Autism Workout• Right-Fit: Autism Workout on Stability Ball• Right-Fit: Basic Skills

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Jacob – Child Prodigy

• 13 year old math and science prodigy with Asperger’s Syndrome

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Assessment Summary

• Assessment is integral to education process• Use of assessment helps to

– Identify the students with developmental delays– Diagnose the nature of the problem or delay– Provides information to use when writing the student’s

IEP– Develop instruction specific to each individual student’s

needs– Evaluate student progress after treatment is instituted

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