Practice and Feedback

Exercise: Prepare to Administer the Assessment
Learning Objective
Perform the steps required to adequately prepare for the assessment of the chosen domain.

Context
Bianca’s collaborative team chose to assess the subdomain Internet Safety (Community Skills domain), the domain Language and Communication Skills, and the subdomains Hygiene and Grooming, Bathing Skills and Sleeping Habits (Daily Living Skills domain). Mrs. Melanson, Bianca’s resource teacher, decided that the Level 2 development profile is appropriate for Bianca.

Before beginning the assessment process, Mrs. Melanson takes the time to read the Administration Guides for the three domains targeted: Community Skills, Language and Communication Skills, and Daily Living Skills. She notes that skills in the subdomains Internet Safety, Hygiene and Grooming, Bathing Skills and Sleeping Habits are assessed through a questionnaire for parents and teachers. (An interview can also be useful for clarifying certain details, but is not required.) Language and Communication Skills are assessed through structured assessment and observation.

Mrs. Melanson reads the instructions for the questionnaire. She knows that she must submit a questionnaire to the parents and to Mr. Lee, Bianca’s teacher, to assess the subdomain Internet Safety and another questionnaire to the parents only for the subdomains Hygiene and Grooming, Bathing Skills and Sleeping Habits. After reviewing the list of skills assessed in the subdomain Internet Safety, Mrs. Melanson realizes that this questionnaire applies more to the parents than to the teachers. She prepares all the questionnaires and puts them in an envelope for Bianca's parents.

Reminder: it is not necessary to assess all the skills on the list. The objective is to get a picture of the learner’s strengths and challenges.Mrs. Melanson consults the Preparing for the Structured Assessment guide. She plans an assessment session with Bianca the following week. She prepares different scenarios in a small guide in which she notes the materials and resources she will need to assess the various skills in the domain. In preparing the guide, Mrs. Melanson realizes that she will need pictures of people, activities, and locations familiar to Bianca. She calls Bianca’s mother, who e-mails some to her. Mrs. Melanson chooses some skills from the lists and prepares scenarios to assess these skills. She thinks that this first step will provide information on Bianca’s skills and that she will be able to target other skills at a second session if she feels the need.

Mrs. Melanson consults Mrs. Gallow, Bianca’s speech language pathologist. They review the Labelling Skills section of the assessment together and prepare scenarios that will enable them to assess Bianca’s skills. Click here to read the scenarios. Then they meet with Bianca to conduct this part of the assessment.

Instructions
From this information and using this document, determine how Mrs. Melanson has followed each of the proposed steps to prepare adequately to conduct the assessment in the selected domains. What aspects of the preparation could be improved?