1. Biographical Data and Identifying Information
We must lay out the basic information in a clear, concise format. The biographical information should include the following:
• Name of the child
• Address
• Date of birth
• Gender
• Date of assessment
• Chronological age of child at time of assessment
• Examiner’s name and title
• Location of assessment (optional)
2. Tests Administered
Test administration will clearly identify information (name of author(s), year of publication, name of test, name of publisher and place of publication). It is best to include this information in alphabetical order.
3. Reason for Referral
When a person (teacher, administrator, support staff) is referring a student, it is important that the following information be included:
• Name of referral source
• The issues of concern to the referral source
• A summary of the behaviors that led to the referral
We will gather this information from the parent or teacher (the referring agent). We also might gather this information from a questionnaire that we would have asked the parent/teacher to complete prior to his/her meeting with us.
4. Background Information
Although some background information may be difficult to obtain, it is important that we use all resources available to gather the necessary background information on the student being referred. Parents may not always be willing to share child or family history. We can interview the child for some of this information. More information can be gathered from previous school records. We can speak with outside agencies or professionals that may have worked with the child. This can include volunteers such as Boy/Girl Scout leaders, coaches, music teachers, daycare providers, etc. Our goal is to collect as much of the following information as we can:
· Relevant family history
· Present family situation
· Significant developmental /health history
· Any previous test/assessment data
It is important that we not get carried away with our inquiries/questions, but keep the focus on relevant issues. We must ask ourselves what we will do with the information if we get it. If it cannot be used for diagnosis or planning, then do not ask the question. There is a fine line between relevant information and violating someone’s privacy.
5. Behavior Observations
In this section we will include our observations of the student’s behavior, including general physical appearance, responses to the testing situation, and any specific behavior(s) that we believe would have impacted the student’s test performance.
We might find it useful to review the information covered earlier under Observation Points and to do the following:
· Describe behavior(s) that we think is related to the test or testing situation.
· Provide evidence to support any observation (i.e. what he did to make us take note of the particular behavior: was he tense, frustrated, compliant, etc.?).
· Note the student’s ability to stay on task (i.e. stay on task for the entire test and complete it successfully, etc.).
6. Assessment Results
When presenting assessment results in our report, we should follow each of the four steps listed here.
• Give subtest and total score for each test.
· Provide mean and standard deviation for each test/subtest.
· List test results under specific domains (e.g. reading, social skills, mathematics).
· Attach test protocol as an appendix.
7. Discussion and Interpretation of Results
Included in our analysis should be a statement of what the numbers/results of the tests mean in layman's terms. The statement should:
· Describe each domain tested in language that parents can understand.
· Identify strengths, areas where instruction is needed, or areas where gaps in overall performance were noted.
· If substantially different scores are obtained in two different tests used for the same educational domain, indicate why this is so (e.g. handles literal questions well but has difficulty with inferential type questions, or scored well in mathematics computation but poorly in problem-based mathematics.)
· Provide our assessment analysis under each domain rather than providing information test by test.
· Always report/discuss our findings in the context of information gathered from the tests we have used (e.g. “According to the xyz test of reading comprehension, John’s score was xxx.”)
8. Recommendations
Our recommendations must respond to the reason(s) for the referral. We may divide our recommendations into categories such as general (i.e. issues across any subject or placement, etc.) and specific subject related recommendations. The recommendations should be realistic and have practical application in an education setting (exceptional or mainstream setting). We need to develop a set of goals, and of strategies to be employed to achieve them. Included in our recommendations will be:
· Feasible, realistic suggestions that can be implemented, bearing in mind classroom and home conditions/factors
· Related areas of deficiency or need that might require further assessment (e.g. vision, hearing, etc.)
· Findings and recommendations presented under a general heading
- Under this general heading we should offer at least three activities/intervention strategies that a teacher could easily perform in the classroom.
Sample Report
Documentation is very important in special education. What do the numbers that we obtain in a test mean? We have to translate them into "people talk" so that all our consumers (parents, regular classroom teachers, administrators, and paraprofessionals) are able to understand the strengths and needs of the child and what the assessor suggests as an intervention plan. This is where the need for us (the special education teacher) to be a "curriculum expert" comes into play. How does what we found out in the test or assessment translate into an activity that has to be done in class? Most texts in special education provide good examples of report writing using standardized tests. In this sample we have used informal assessment as the example.
An assessment report should include information on the following areas:
1. General background or demographic information
2. Reasons for referral
3. Behavioral observation during the assessment
4. Educational history
5. Assessment of key learning areas
6. Summary and conclusion
7. Recommendations
Sample report:
1. General background or demographic information
Name: John A. Smith
Date of Birth: 5 April 1994
Age: 8 years, 2 months
Sex: Male
Grade: 3
Language(s) spoken: English
School: SD School
Teacher: Ms. M. Pollock
Date of assessment: 5 June 2002
Address: 94 Prince Street, My Town, NY 12002
Phone: 917-444-0000
Tests administered
Test of Verbal Skills & Abilities
XYZ Test of Mathematics
EFG Vocabulary Inventory
Johnson & Johnson Reading Skills Examination
ABC Motor Coordination Inventory
Background
John lives at home with his mother, father, and older brother. John was placed in an integrated classroom following his poor achievement in reading, writing, and mathematics at the end of grade 2. He was reported to have an extremely short attention span. Now his attention has improved slightly, but he still requires assistance in key learning areas of reading, writing, and mathematics.
2. Reasons for referral
John was referred by his parents, who advised that their son has been receiving educational services from specialists in reading, writing, and mathematics. The purpose of this assessment was to determine whether these services needed to continue or needed to be modified. His educational plan also will need to be reviewed based on the outcomes of assessment.
3. Behavior observation
John presented as a very happy boy, speaking freely with the examiner. He was cooperative and generally completed all tasks as requested during the testing session. John did become restless after about six to eight minutes. This made breaks in testing a necessity. During testing he frequently requested that instructions be repeated to enable him to complete various test-related tasks.
4. School or educational history
John entered kindergarten at the age of five. His kindergarten teacher's report revealed that he had an extremely short attention span. He did not have any friends. He faced frequent problems when participating in group activities. Also, he frequently lost his belongings. In grade 2 he had similar difficulties with his on-task behavior. He took much longer than his classmates to complete academic tasks.
He continues to have difficulty staying on task. He cannot stay on task for much longer than four to five minutes. He does not have any close friends in his class. John also has significant difficulties with reading and writing at his present grade level.
5. Assessment of key learning areas
Oral and written language
It was found that John's expressive language was typical of an eight-year-old student. His conversation skills are age-appropriate. However, he has difficulties with his written expression. He often makes spelling mistakes. His writing is not legible and he frequently omits key words in sentences. His class work has revealed that he has problems copying from the blackboard. He has continuing confusion of the sound/letter symbols, suggesting major difficulties with vowels. When reading text he frequently omits words that are slightly difficult to read. He has poor sound sequencing skills. Most words that do not follow any specific spelling pattern are often retained in memory using some other "clues." Error analysis of oral miscues suggested a tendency to guess at the ends of words, incorrectly blend sounds, and substitute words that may not fit the meaning of the sentence, but look similar to the printed words. It has been found that John understands material when the material and vocabulary are discussed beforehand. If he is not told anything about the material he often makes mistakes in determining the sequence of events and in predicting the outcomes. John often avoids activity involving any spelling.
Arithmetic
Results of a clinical interview with John suggested that he has developed a reasonable understanding of place value concepts that he demonstrated by reading three- and four-digit numbers correctly. However, he did have difficulty in ordering four-digit numbers from smallest to largest. Also, he could not point to the smallest and largest (four-digit) numbers shown to him. It is important to note that John did not have any difficulty in placing three-digit numbers in order of value. When asked to start counting at 23 and count by 10s, he counted correctly up to 73; however, he could not indicate the next number in the sequence. This suggests that he would require assistance in "skip counting," which is a prerequisite for multiplication.
John can undertake simple addition and subtraction problems that do not require "carrying” or “borrowing." He needs to use physical counters to add or to subtract numbers. He is aware of both the multiplication and division concepts. An examination of the student's responses on multiplication problems suggested that he was more comfortable with multiplications involving simple computations (for example, single digit with single digit or lower two digits), but as the multiplication problems began to get more complex (e.g. 3 multiplied by 50) he could not do them.
Adaptive behavior
John's behavior is generally appropriate most of the time in school. When asked to do a task that he finds difficult, John gets angry and starts throwing temper tantrums. His teacher reports that this sequence of behaviors occurs about once or twice per week. John's parents also have reported similar behaviors at home. On several occasions he has been heard to make self-derogatory statements, such as, "I am stupid," or "I can't do anything right," etc. John avoids participating in group activities. He often has asked his class teachers to allow him to do his work on his own.
6. Summary and conclusions
Generally John appears to be functioning at below appropriate age levels in most of the key learning areas; however, his arithmetic skills are better than his reading and writing skills. His major reading problem is omitting words in sentences. This causes incomplete or inappropriate comprehension of the material read. In addition, he omits words when writing sentences and his writing is not very legible. Assessment of his arithmetic skills revealed that he has a slight difficulty with sequencing and ordering four-digit numbers, and would need assistance with addition and subtraction problems requiring "carrying” and “borrowing." Although John's social behavior is generally appropriate, he sometimes gets aggressive and throws temper tantrums. Frequent self-derogatory statements suggest that he has a very poor self-concept and that this may be the underlying cause of his difficulty in making friends.
7. Recommendations
It would be important to address the following curricular needs when designing an IEP for John:
· In oral reading John needs to learn to read complete sentences and not to substitute or omit any words.
· Appropriate goals in comprehension are to remember the basic facts about the passage read to achieve a better understanding of the sequence of events and predicting outcomes.
· There is a need to improve his spelling skills, particularly with the correct placement of vowels.
· Identified written language deficits include problems with legibility and omission of difficult words. It would therefore be important to work on his writing skills, with particular emphasis on improving legibility of words with the following letters l, m, n, d, and b. Attention also would need to be given to his omission of key words when writing sentences.
· In arithmetic, his place value concepts need to be extended further to five-digit numbers, as well as improving sequencing and ordering of four-digit numbers. Addition and subtraction with "carrying” and “borrowing" need to be introduced using material and language to enhance his understanding of each.
· There is a need to develop a behavior management plan to address his temper tantrums at home and at school.
· Attention also should be given to improving his self-concept, as well as his relationships with his classmates and peers.