Assessment Tools You Assessment Tools You Can UseCan Use

Assessment Tools You Assessment Tools You Can UseCan Use

A Practical GuideA Practical Guide(Dr. Moses Mutuku)(Dr. Moses Mutuku)

What Should I Assess?• Behaviors• Skills• Activities

Why Should I Assess?• To know where the child is

developmentally• To determine if child is acquiring skills

and at what rate• To determine if child is lagging in any

area• To make a referral• To plan curriculum

Six Methods of Assessment

• Developmental checklists• Parent interviews• Self-portraits• Scribbling, drawing, writing samples• Audio or video tapes• Anecdotal records

Developmental Milestones

• Four Basic Areas– Physical Growth/Motor Development– Social/Personal Development– Emotional Development/Feelings– Cognitive/Language Development

1. Developmental Checklists

• Helps gauge progress in developmental milestones

• Complete 3 times a year• Use work samples, audio tapes,

anecdotal records• Quick and easy to use• Objective• Acts as a guide to plan activities

Developmental Checklists (cont)

• 0 – 12 months• 12 – 24 months• 24 – 36 months• 3-year-olds• 4-year-olds• 5-year-olds• 6- to 8-year-olds

Developmental Checklists

• “Six Simple Ways to Assess Young Children”

• Sue Y. Gober• Del Thomson Learning• ISBN 0-7668-3925-7• www.delmar.com

2. Parent Interviews• Invaluable tool• Parent is expert on their child• Talk without child, plan• Regularly scheduled to alleviate stress• Always begin positively• Focus on strengths and then areas to

be accomplished• Only substantiated concerns shared

3. Self-Portraits• Children begin around age 3• Child needs to be able to hold writing utensil• Accept any effort• Sometimes younger children draw more

details than older children• Demonstrates body awareness• Demonstrates fine motor ability• Reflects child’s thinking and knowledge of

their world

4. Scribbling, Drawing, Writing Samples

• Children love to see their work on paper• Provide other opportunities for work to

be temporary for purposes of practice• Collect one sample a month• Provide ample materials• Use positive feedback versus “praise”:

“Wow! You made all the letters in your name; last time you weren’t able to make an ‘M’!”

5. Audio or Video Tapes

• Record child’s talking (language development)• Encourages children to talk• Record child retelling a story (cognitive

development)• Record child talking to another child (social

development)• Provides speech data• Provides language data• Provides information on child’s thought

processes

6. Anecdotal Records• Work well alone or with other

assessment methods• Short notes describing significant

developmental event in major domains: social (how child gets along with others), emotional (how child feels and copes with stress), cognitive (including language), physical (including gross and fine motor)

• Regularly, all children, all domains

Screening for ADHD• 18-point screening tool• Four choices:

– Never– Sometimes– Often– Always

• Inattention• Hyperactivity• Impulsivity

Symptoms of Inattention

• Does not pay close attention to details, makes mistakes in schoolwork or other activities

• Difficulty sustaining attention in tasks• Does not follow through on instructions and does not

finish work• Difficulty organizing tasks• Avoids or dislikes tasks with sustained mental effort

(homework)• Loses things necessary for tasks (toys, books)• Easily distracted by outside stimuli• Forgetful in daily activities

Symptoms of Hyperactivity

• Fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in seat• Leaves seat in classroom or other situations• Runs about or climbs too much in situations

where inappropriate• Difficulty playing quietly• Is “on the go” or acts as if “driven by a motor”• Talks too much

Symptoms of Impulsivity

• Blurts out answers before questions are completed

• Difficulty waiting turn• Interrupts to intrudes on others

ADHD• Degrees, on a continuum• Present in all environments• Medication NEVER under age 6• If teacher requests testing, how many other

children have they referred?• Putting on the Brakes• Instruction first• Therapy second• Medication LAST• If it doesn’t work in a week, it’s not likely ADHD

Learning Disability Checklist for Behaviors

• Often hyperactive• Rarely completes tasks in allotted time• Often acts out in class and doesn’t follow routines and

rules• Can be moody and impulsive• Disorganized• Rarely thinks before acting• Does not get along well with peers• Decision making skills are weak• Late or absent• Easily frustrated

Learning Disability Checklist for Social Skills

• Difficulty establishing friends or younger friends• Rarely accepted by peers• Argues with peers• Doesn’t accept responsibility well• Avoids peer contact or often ridiculed or

involved with ridiculing• Demands instant gratification• Seeks attention• Doesn’t follow rules or routines• Prone to tantrums

Learning Disability Characteristics

• Doesn’t make connections in similar learning concepts (may know that 5 + 3 = 8; doesn’t know 3 + 5 = 8)

• Difficulty comparing, classifying, sorting to one specific criteria

• Difficulty with time concepts, before, after, tomorrow, last week

• Creativity and imagination limited• Slow to respond• Comments are off track• Difficulty thinking in logical and sequential manner• Difficulty with number concepts• Requires lots of clarification

Learning Disabilities Visual Deficits

• Letter reversals: b for d, p for q• Letter and/or number inversions: M for w, p for b• Finds reasons not to read (tired)• Complains that eyes hurt• Doesn’t copy correctly• Re-reads or skips lines• Loses spot where reading• Makes sequencing errors: say on for no, saw for was• Erase often• Not enough space between words and letters run into each

other• Letters hard to determine• Difficulty cutting, gluing, holding pencils properly

Learning Disabilities Memory Deficits

• Often doesn’t remember what was seen, heard, or shown

• Difficulty remembering sequences in directions or instructions

• Often forgets pronunciation of frequently-used words, spelling weak

• Sight vocabulary weak, reading slow to develop• Difficulty memorizing• Often appears forgetful• Expressive and receptive language is weak• Rarely uses appropriate nouns, refers to “that thing” or

“you know”• Often repeats same errors

Learning Disability Websites

• www.google.com• Enter “learning disability screening children”• http://specialed.about.com/cs/

learningdisabled/a/learningd.htm• http://specialed.about.com/cs/learningdisabled

/a/LD_socialskills.htm• http://specialed.about.com/cs/learningdisabled

/a/behaviorskills.htm• http://specialed.about.com/cs/

learningdisabled/a/ldconceptual.htm

Screening for Autism• Modified Checklist for Autism in

Toddlers (M-CHAT)• Journal of Autism and Developmental

Disorders, April 2001• 23 items• 6 critical questions• NOT designed to be scored by person

taking it• Contact child’s physician

Autism Critical Questions

• Is child interested in other children?• Does child use index finger to point, to

ask for things?• Does child imitate you (make face)?• Does child bring things to show you?• Does child respond to their name when

you call them?• If you point across the room, do they

look at what you are pointing to?

Autistic-like Behaviors• Repetitive, meaningless object

manipulation (turn wheels, drop toy repetitively), inappropriate object play

• Sensitivity to touch (overly, under)• Sensitivity to sound (overly, under)• Sensitivity to movement (overly, under)• Sensitivity to sight (overly, under)• Sensitivity to smells (overly, under)

Screening for Depression

• Young children, 1 in 3 temporary• Girls and boys equal until puberty• History significant, individual and

familial• Do not ignore

Symptoms of Depression

• Bored• Irritable, angry, hostile• Difficulty with relationships• Frequent absences, poor performance at school• Frequent vague, nonspecific physical complaints (headache,

stomachache, tired)• Lack of interest in playing with friends• Talks about running away from home• Outbursts of shouting, complaining, unexplained irritability, or crying• Sleep disorders (too much, too little)• Activity (too much, too little)• Feelings of worthlessness or inappropriate guilt• Death or suicide talk (TIME TO REFER!!!)

Other Screening Tools• Denver Developmental Screening-

II• ESI (Early Screening Inventory,

Meisels & Wiske)• Ages and Stages (assessment)• Brigance