Examples and Modelling

In the following modelling exercises and examples, you will meet James. This 6-year-old boy is in Grade 1 at Sunshine School and has challenges related to his functional skills. His collaborative team decides to complete the CALI – Functional Skills for Independence to set some goals to work on during the school year. Here are the members of James’s collaborative team:

• His parents, Stephanie and Alexander;
• His homeroom teacher, Mrs. Brown;
• His resource teacher, Mrs. Cole;
• The school principal, Mrs. Jenkins.

Example: Conduct an Interview With a Parent #1
Learning Objective
Recognize and use best strategies to successfully conduct an interview with a parent.

Context
Mrs. Cole, resource teacher, conducted an interview with James’s mother, Stephanie, as part of the Functional Skills for Independence Screener. Mrs. Cole had scheduled one hour for the interview, which lasted about 45 minutes.

Watch excerpts from the interview in the following video. Observe how Mrs. Cole used best strategies during the interview and which improvements could be made.





Example: Conduct an Interview With a Parent #2
Learning Objective
Recognize and use best strategies to successfully conduct an interview with a parent.

Context
Mrs. Cole, resource teacher, does an interview with James’s mother, Stephanie, as part of the Functional Skills for Independence Screener. Mrs. Cole had scheduled one hour for the interview, which lasted about 45 minutes. During the interview, Mrs. Cole will use certain best strategies and intentionally refrain from using others.

Watch excerpts from the interview in the following video. Observe how Mrs. Cole used best strategies during the interview and which improvements could be made.





Example: Validate the Information Obtained by Means of a Questionnaire
Learning Objective
Recognize and use best strategies to collect reliable data using a questionnaire.

Context
Mrs. Cole, resource teacher, meets with Mrs. Brown, homeroom teacher, to give her the Questionnaire. She explains to Mrs. Brown, who was at the meeting of the collaborative team, that the Questionnaire is part of the first step of the CALI – Functional Skills for Independence; it is used to determine which domain is the highest priority and will undergo further assessment. She asks Mrs. Brown to answer the open-ended questions, providing as much detail as she deems necessary, to complete all sections of the table containing a blue box (because these sections are appropriate for a child of James’s age), and to record any other information in the Comments column. She also gives Mrs. Brown a copy of the Tool for Conducting an Interview and explains how to use it properly.

Mrs. Cole suggests to Mrs. Brown that she consider the school context, specifically the classroom, when answering the questions. She explains each of the three response options (i.e., “low priority,” “moderate priority,” and “high priority”) to Mrs. Brown and makes sure they are fully understood. Three days later, Mrs. Brown gives the completed Questionnaire to Mrs. Cole, who reviews the information and identifies the responses needing clarification. Click below to see the Questionnaire so far.

Teacher’s Questionnaire – Mrs. Brown
Mrs. Cole meets with Mrs. Brown for follow-up. This meeting lasts only 10 minutes, because she had only three questions to ask Mrs. Brown.



Example: Conduct an Interview With the Learner
Learning Objective
Recognize best strategies and use them to conduct a successful interview with a learner.

Context
Mrs. Cole plans to meet with James to ask him some questions about his functional skills. After speaking with his homeroom teacher, Mrs. Cole decides to go to the classroom during art class, where she sits down with James and asks him some questions while they do crafts. She reminds James of her visit the day before and tells him they will talk about the things he enjoys doing and the ones he finds it easy or difficult to do.

During Mrs. Cole's interview with James, Mrs. Brown checks several times that the art project and the interview are going well. She praises James several times for his work and his cooperation.

Here are Mrs. Cole's interview notes:

Interview With the Learner – James