As mentioned in a previous blog (which has more to do with my day job than my time as President of DEC), I'm planning to use the Young Exceptional Children Monograph #13 as a required text to support student learning in my assessment and evaluation course at Kent State University this spring.
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| Young Exceptional Children: Monograph 13 |
This coming week I'm going to preview the monograph's contents with students so they understand why the monograph was developed and how all the major assessment purposes and issues facing those working in EI/ECSE are covered.
Then, each time one of the article is assigned or used in class - I'm going to ask students to reflect here (in the blog) instead of in our course management system. The idea is to spark conversation among those working in the field and with families as we all consider appropriate assessment practices with young children.
Feel free to comment, to have your own students comment, and/or to share the blog entries with others.
After discussing the Routines Based Interview (RBI) and Assessment of Family Activities and Routines, we noticed many similarities: First, both use meaningful conversation with parents and caregivers to learn about their daily routines and activities to help create functional IFSP/IEP goals and embedded learning opportunities. Both assessments makes sure the family members concerns and frustrations are addressed and validated. Since information is received directly from the parents, and involves the child's natural environment, the assessments are (to us) authentic.
ReplyDeleteBoth forms of the assessments are broken down into the family's daily routines, and both list the family's satisfaction with each part of their day. Both assessments have probes and scripted conversations the Intervention Specialist can use to make sure they family's priorities are addressed.
We feel the RBI and the Assessment of Family Activities and Routines helps ensure each family members are part of the IFSP/IEP team. Allowing the families to address the changes they would like to see in the routine, not only helps create more functional outcomes, it also provides each family member with a sense of empowerment.
Assessment of Family-Identified Needs Through the Routines-Based Interview p. 43
ReplyDeleteLearned:
- "Has potential for directing early intervention toward functional activities, for increasing children's engagement in home and community routines, and for empowering families by giving them a meaningful role in planning" p. 56
-The process lets us look into the family's daily life and see how where we can affect the child's functional activities to address the family's main concerns
-Allows us to create functional goals that can be measured
How we feel:
- It seems beneficial because it breaks down the child's routines. It is like a task analysis of the family's day.
See in practice:
-Have seen IFSP outcomes written as a result of the RBI being completed with a family. They were very specific to the family's needs, they were not generic.
What we think:
It would be helpful to see an example of a portion of the RBI in the monograph itself to help those who have not seen it before.
Using the Assessment of Family Activities and Routines to Develop Embedded Programming pg. 64
Learned:
-The importance of finding out about the caregiver's expectations and level of satisfaction through a conversation about the family's daily routines and activities.
- The value of asking probing open-ended questions like "tell me what that looks like" and "what is the child's role in that activity?"
How we Feel:
- It is beneficial to take the family's perspective of what is not going well and what is going well and consider these when writing outcome statements for the IFSP. Helps outcomes have validity for the family.
What we see in Practice:
- It is similar to the idea of the family report in the A.E.P.S. which is a series of questions that are open-ended and asks families to write about their daily routines with their child (ie. bed, bath, meal times).
What we think:
- Highlights the importance of early intervention in terms of family-centered practices because of the conversational tone and the direct implications for writing IFSP outcomes.
Submitted by: Cathy and Wayne
What We Learned:
ReplyDeleteWe looked at the Routines-Based Interview and the Families Activities and Routines and discussed the similarities and differences. Both are based on an in-depth conversation between the family and service provider. The dialogue encourages families to reflect on their routines, relationships to those routines and what their child’s role is in those daily activities and routines and uncover functional skills within each activity. Both interviews help service providers look at what the family’s needs and strengths are in their own words and translate those needs into meaningful IFSP goals and outcomes.
How We Feel:
The RBI and the Assessment of Families Activities & Routines creates an in-depth Family Centered approach to creating meaningful and authentic goals based on each individual family’s concerns. Since the interviews require honesty and a level of trustworthiness, it is crucial that a relationship is developed between the interviewer and family. The interviewer should be aware and sensitive to the diverse backgrounds many of their families will come from.
What We See in Practice:
Both are used to create outcomes and goals when developing an IFSP/IEP.
What We Think:
Family participation is an important piece of the puzzle and an opportunity for providers to understand families in their own words. Hearing how families describe their routines, helps providers understand and clearly identify what the family’s priorities are and how the interventions can be embedded into their daily routines in a functional way. Families are an integral part of the process and should be contributing from the very beginning.
What I learned?
ReplyDelete-I learned that it is important to recognize that early interventions should take place in both challenging and going-well activities/routines.
How I feel?
-That it is very important to collect information about the families we work with. We need to go out of our way to learn about the family’s strategies, priorities, concerns, and resources. We need to build a connection with our families and find out what they would like to have happen. We want families to feel a sense of empowerment and that the family’s priorities are being considered.
-I also think that it’s important to plan intervention strategies/plan teaching strategies to fit into the family’s everyday activities/routines.
What I see in practiced?
-I see professionals and families collaborating to meet children’s needs. Not all parents are involved as much as the professionals would like, but the professionals try as hard as they can to get them involved. It is also important to recognize that some parents are very much involved while others are involved just a little. We need to allow parents to get as involved as they want to so that they are comfortable.
After reading through the blogs, I realized how important it is to have conversations with our families to learn about the family’s daily routines and activities so that we are able to provide embedded learning opportunities within the family’s natural routines. This is usually done best by asking open-ended questions to promote conversation. It is also important that we find out what the family is not satisfied with and what they think is going well. We need to involve the families as much as possible so they feel a sense of empowerment. We want them to be active team members when discussing their child’s goals.
Cathy, Shannon and Kelly
ReplyDeleteFeb. 16th discussion on Evaluation Young Children From Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds for Special Education Services:
Main discussion points:
-The myth that children will be confused by learning 2 languages. All children are capable of developing language skills in more than one language.
-It is important to recognize that typical bilingual behaviors can easily be confused for speech and language disabilities
-Use culturally appropriate assessment methods. Choose the right tools and methods of assessment such as a variety of nonstandardized tests, rich observational and interview strategies. We need to observe children over time.
-Use authentic assessments. You can't assess students from a different culture on things that they do not have in their culture. They will not know what it is called because they have no experience with it.
-It is important to find the right interpreter/mediator and how to effectively use them. It is important for them to understand and be able to explain the language and culture of the family.
-Include parent as partners and use thoughtful collaboration. Build relationships.
-Observe the child's language in his or her natural environments.
-Create culturally diverse assessment/evaluation forms.
Good summary! What do you see would compel and prevent practitioners to do these in their settings? How can we get them to implement these in a more consistent manner?
DeleteWe as educators are always informed and encouraged to be culturally and linguistically competent. We must always make sure we are reaching the families through the appropriate and interpretable medium so their children can receive the best services. However, to become eligible for those services, we as educators must use assessment tools that have strong cultural and method biases and are not appropriate for CLD children. How does this seem fair? I'm not sure. How are we supposed to best serve these children and their families if we cannot get the most accurate picture of their abilities. This is of course is where authentic assessment, natural environments, parents are partners takes charge but I fear we will always be aiming for cultural competency but we might not ever get there.
ReplyDeleteThere is no perfect assessment and I think that you are correct in saying that looking at the child through a variety of lenses, in order to get a more accurate understanding of the child's skills and needs is the way to go.
DeleteThink about cultural competence as a journey, a lifelong one, and not a destination -- because it is not a "place" to go, indeed you will never get there...
Reflecting on How We Can Best Evaluate Young Children Who are Dual Language Learners and Make Informed Decisions:
ReplyDeleteIt is important for us as professionals in the field of early childhood to be aware of how we proceed and use assessment tools while maintaining a level of cultural awareness and competency. We are advised to take care in distinguishing between developmental delays and cultural and linguistic differences. Often it is easy for professionals to misrepresent speech and language delays and disabilities when working with children who speak a language other than English. How do we do take on this responsibility of accurately assessing children? We need to prepare by taking several steps to remove the linguistic and cultural barriers. These steps include: creating teams which allow for multiple members (family, EI provider, speech and language pathologist, an English language learning specialist, and a cultural liaison or interpreter), ensuring active and meaningful participation by families, observing in the child's natural environments, determining the child's language proficiencies, accessing data across multiple sources, eliminating biases in assessment tools, and highlighting with families the importance of home language development for their child. When we set aside the time and energy to invest in the child and his or her family we will ensure a greater quality of service to the diverse children in our care.
Cultural barriers exist only to those who see it as such. The last point you made about investing time and effort in getting to know the child and family is key. We should do that for every child and family - no matter what their background.
DeleteWeek 7: (Pages 16-42)
ReplyDeleteWhat I learned:
-Developmental screening refers to ongoing, brief formal assessment of a child to determine whether further and more comprehensive assessment is required.
-Screening is particularly important for young children whose development is at risk due to environmental factors such as poverty or medical issues.
-EPSDT and IDEA require states to screen and identify children early who might benefit from intervention services and encourage states that do not serve at risk populations to track and monitor these children’s development.
-Cultural appropriateness can affect score validity and reliability.
What I see:
-That early identification of developmental delays has been recognized as a national priority. I am starting to hear and see this more in school and with professionals I am working with.
-Children who are exposed to adverse environmental conditions are also at increased risk for developmental problems and disabilities.
What I think:
-I think screening is imperative because it helps identify young children who may be at risk for developmental delays. The earlier they provide services for those with the delays, the more the child will benefit.
-That screening tools should contribute to collaborative and culturally sensitive work with families.
What I’m feeling:
-It is a good idea to involve parents in the screening process by using a parent-completed tool. This will help develop that partnership and sense of empowerment for the parents.
-Confused that there are still a large number of children who do not receive developmental screening in their early years and enter school with cognitive, motor, or communication delays. With all the research out there, I am surprised that this is still the case.
I was honestly surprised that I had never heard of Child Find prior to this class-WOW! What an important part of special education, how did I miss this?! Maybe because Child Find seems to be an obvious component of screening and eligibility, nobody seemed to "label" it, but I am glad to now know there's a title for this important process involving intervention services.
ReplyDeleteWhat I took away from the readings and the lecture this week is we as professionals, no matter what the age group we work with, needs to be aware of the warning signs and also how inform parents and other professionals what to look for in children and when they might need a referral. Whether it's motor, cognitive, or communication, there are so many specific things we should all be conscious about when working with children. We need to be informed and up to date on the different screening tools that are made available to professionals and which ones we should use. We need to make sure we are selecting tools that are involving family members are and culturally sensitive.
Developmental Screening in Early Childhood:
ReplyDeleteWhat I have learned:
A quote that stands out from my reading of the article, “Developmental Screening in Early Childhood: Potential Roadmaps for those Considering the Journey” is “fundamental to early intervention is timely identification and fundamental to early detection is periodic developmental screening” (p. 17). This sets the precedence for how important it is for us as early childhood professionals to learn how to choose the best tools and methods of administration so that we can help children and families as soon as possible. I am finding that Child Find is extremely beneficial in helping to detect children who are at risk for developmental disabilities. This is something I had not know much about previous to our learning in this course.
What I see:
It is clear that the cross-cultural issues in developmental screening pose an interesting dynamic that we need to continuously reflect on as we are becoming an increasingly diverse culture. The validity and reliability of our screenings are often affected by the variety of languages and culturally diverse experiences children bring with them. In addition, it is important to think about whether or not the tests have been normed with a representative sample of the population to include the variety of cultures.
What I think:
I think that screening is a highly useful and practical tool. I can see the value in working with families to involve them in this screening process as much as possible because they know their child best and in a variety of situations and environments. I do think there will be a continuous need for the ongoing development of screening materials that meet the culturally and linguistically diverse society in which we live. This will only help to “weed out” the children who are over diagnosed and those who are under identified, thus streamlining services to those who really need them.
What I am feeling:
I feel that I have a new understanding on the purpose and procedures that are related to child find and screening young children. I have been using the ASQ in my preschool classroom the last two years, but did not really understand its purpose as a screener. I feel that I am now able to make many connections between what I have been doing with the families and children in my program to the actual process and the “behind the scenes” thinking that has developed around screening over the years in the field of early childhood intervention.
Developmental Screening in Early Childhood
ReplyDeleteWhat I learned:
Developmental screening is a brief assessment and the first step to determining whether a more comprehensive assessment is needed. Developmental screeners are on-going and extremely important for at-risk children since research shows that children with multiple risk factors have higher rates of developmental delays (pg. 18). The need for effective, thorough and cost-effective assessments is vital to making sure the right tools are selected.
The first step to effective early identification is having appropriate developmental screeners. Making sure that these assessments reach the needs of all children is imperative. Having a tool is not the only criteria, making sure that the tool measures what it says it measures in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner is vital.
What I see:
Early identification is important and hopefully, continues to be a priority among service providers working with young children.
What I think:
I think that administrators, teachers and other service providers working with young children need to be well-versed in the stages of child development. Having this fundamental information will help them identify a disability or a developmental delay earlier. This is such an important piece of the puzzle since we know that the earlier the intervention the better the results. It is also important for people working with young children to be aware of the resources and services that are available within their community to be able to refer the families to.
What I am feeling:
Frustrated.
After my readings and internet research about Child Find policies in Ohio, I am still left wondering how this “concept” is a viable possibility. Who is monitoring the agencies that are taking the referrals? Where is the checks and balances for these programs? How are we ensuring that the children that need services are getting the appropriate resources and materials they need? I work for a preschool and did not know about this information until I took this class-how many other early childhood educators are in this position?
This week's reading, Developmental Screening in Early Childhood" made me reflect on "the ideal" verses "the reality." Since my reality is formed in Nevada, a state that consistently ranks in the bottom of any educational related survey, I was pleasantly suprised how closely the actual programs at Nevada Early Intervention Services (NEIS, the state's agency for Part C) and Child Find (the local school district's agency for Part B intake) are aligned to the ideas outlined in Clifford, Squires, Yockelson, Twombly & Bricker's article. One area that both agencies do well is including the families. During the screening process both professionally administered and parent-completed screenings are used. As described in the article, by including the families from the very begining they are already "on the team" and have an influential role.
ReplyDeleteAnother area this article made me reflect on was triggered by the quote "Early identification of developmental delays has been recognized as a national priority" (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2006; Kirp, 2007). If this is true, it seems like there should be a "standard" for what constitutes a developmental delay. After reviewing several state's eligibility requirements, there is a fairly wide range of when a child would receive services. As the father of a child who received services, I'm glad I live in Nevada and not Arizona. In Arizona my son would not have qualified, thus he would not have been given the opportunity to be as successful.