Exam #2

Question 1

What are the purposes of assessment?

Answer 1

Identify developmental delays.
Diagnose nature of the delay.
Develop an IEP and determine the placement.
Develop instruction.
Evaluate student progress.
Determine support services.
Determine skills for community participation.
Informs teacher on whether students are learning.

Question 2

When is appropriate to screen a student?

Answer 2

At the beginning of the assessment process (2nd step).

All of the time!

Question 3

When is it appropriate to conduct a formal assessment?

Answer 3

At the beginning of the assessment process (3rd step).

Question 4

What are the legal requirements for assessment?

Answer 4

In the native language of the student (case manager must provide an interpreter).
Highly qualified teacher or trained administrator giving the assessment.
Parents agree to the assessment.
Given in a safe environment.
Valid and reliable tool.
battery of instruments used.
Specific to the students needs or disability.

Question 5

What should be screened or assessed?

Answer 5

Information that contributes to student’s IEP.

Question 6

What is the value of authentic assessment for students with disabilities?

Answer 6

Authentic assessment is testing in the natural environment in which the skills will be used. It provides a picture of skill performance under the influence of constraints. This is important because the goal of special education is to help students with disabilities to function in the real world and be as successful as they can be.

Question 7

What is norm-reference assessment?

Answer 7

Individual’s performance can be compared with that of others of the same age and gender.

Question 8

What is criterion-referenced assessment?

Answer 8

Test is designed to provide information about an individual’s mastery of a specific skill or behavior.
Examples: checklists and ecologial inventories (because they are both used to determine whether specific key elements of a task or a series of tasks are demonstrated).

Question 9

What are some of the test considerations that will be helpful to me prior, during, and post assessment?

Answer 9

Prior: comprehensive evaluation of students file, observation fo student, and conversations with appropraite personnel.
During: diagnostic tests are administered individually while screening and programming tests are given to groups.
Post: Analyze results as soon as possible, how I will chart or group strengths/weaknesses.

Question 10

What is a formal assessment?

Answer 10

Test that has been developed for a specific purpose and has been standardized.

Question 11

What is validity?

Answer 11

A measurement of how truthful an instrument is. A valid instrument measures what it claims to measure.
3 types: content-related (degree to which contents of the rest represent an identified domain, body of knowledge, or curriculum), criterion-related (indicated that the test has been compared with another acceptable standard), and construct (degree to which a test does what the author claims it will do).

Question 12

What is reliability?

Answer 12

The measurement of an instrument’s consistency.
AKA repeatability.
2 types: test-retest techniques (same test is administered to the same group of people twice, scores are correlated to degree of agreement), equivalent form reliability (two tests are identified that are believed to measure the same trait or skill and have been standardized to the same population).

Question 13

What is objectivity?

Answer 13

Freedom from bias and subjectivity.
The clearer and most concise the instruments, the more objective the instrument.
Determined by having two or more scoreres independently evaluate the performance of a subject being tested.

Question 14

Test considerations during testing…

Answer 14

The test should be administered by an individual who can communicate in the child’s preferred language and/or form of communication.
How a child performs a task often can be more informative than whether the child is successful with the movement.
Keep testing conditions as comfortable as possible.
Keep the number of observers appropriate for the student’s comfort level.
Observe the students on different days if possible.
Limit the test to reasonable periods (30-60 minutes).

Question 15

Assessment process…

Answer 15

Referral
Screening
Formal Assessment
Determine strengths and weaknesses
Make conclusions and recommendations 
Determine IEP goals with the IEP team based on evaluation process
Determine placement based on IEP
Implement and monitor IEP; report regularly
Revisit IEP yearly

Question 16

How can you organize test results to assist in interpretation of scores?

Answer 16

Test result can be charted, grouped according to strenghts and challenges, or reported according to subset of subtest scores.

Question 17

Describe assessments that can be administered to determine eligibility in regards to B-1 and B-2 of 3525.1352 on MN Rule.

Answer 17

Part B-1: “performance on an appropriately selected, technically adequate, norm-referenced psychomotor or physical fitness instrument.”
Part B-2: motor and skill checklists; informal tests; criterion-referenced measures; deficits in achievement related to the defined curriculum; medical history or reports; parent and staff interviews; systematic observations; and social, emotional, and behavioral assessments.”

Question 18

Based in the MN DAPE Best Practice Operational Guide, Due Process and IEP Development section, describe what occurs in steps 3, 4, and 5.

Answer 18

Step 3: Evaluation Process - case manager, parents/guardians, general education
teachers and any other school personnel who have a stake in the education of that student, meets
to determine the areas of learning to be evaluated, to identify assessment tools, and those
responsible to administer the evaluations.
Step 4: Evaluation - The person responsible for each evaluation area administers the appropriate assessment (both formal and informal), reviews records, collects data, observes the student performance and
documents the findings.
Step 5: Evaluation team meeting - The team determines the eligibility for special education service based on the formal and informal assessment results.

Question 19

What is the top-down teaching approach?

Answer 19

AKA task-specific approach.
Teaches the skill directly, stressed what skills an individual needs to productive independence as an adult in the community.
Places emphasis on the end of the skill sequence, the final motor countdown as an adult, rather than what is to be taught next.
Utilizes least restrictive environment.
Example of top-down approach is the ecological inventory.
Two types content analysis of discrete tasks and content analysis of continuous skill.
May be inappropriate for younger children with disabilities.

Question 20

What is the bottom-up teaching approach?

Answer 20

The ultimate goal of education is to produce productive adults who can function independently in their communities.
Intervene in a child’s life as early as possible to determine whether age appropriate basic building blocks, integration processes, and skills were functional.
The developmental approach - evaluator tries to determine the lowest level of motor function and correct that problem before addressing specific skills.

Question 21

What are functional skills?

Answer 21

Basic locomotor skills: walking, running, hopping, and skipping.
Object control skills like throwing, bouncing, and kicking.

Question 22

What are sport skills?

Answer 22

Skills specific to a particular sport shooting a basketball, serving a tennis ball, skiing, and trapping a soccer ball.

Question 23

Explain the components of the motor development model.

Answer 23

1) Sport skills.
2) Functional skills: locomotor and object control.
3) Integration process: perceptual motor, physical fitness, motor fitness.
4) Basic neurological building blocks: primitive reflexes, postural/equilibrium reflexes, and vestibular/kinesthetic/refractive and orthopic vision/tactile.

Question 24

What is physical fitness?

Answer 24

Composed on strength, flexibility, muscular endurance, and cardiovascular endurance.

Question 25

What is motor fitness?

Answer 25

Composed of agility, power, speed, and coordination.

Question 26

What are evidence based practices?

Answer 26

Using instructional strategies and curricula that have been validated as effective by scientific research and available evidence.
Scientific based instructional strategies include explicit instruction, direct instruction, task analysis, and peer tutoring.

Question 27

What are the components of an IEP?

Answer 27

Present level of educational achievement.
Goals.
Specific educational services.
Related services.
Extent to which the students will not participate in regular education.
Modifications/accommodations for state-wide testing.
Transition services.
Behavior management.
Dates of services.
Evaluation procedures.

Question 28

Who would be involved in the IEP process and what are their respective roles in providing services?

Answer 28

Direct services: special educators, hospital/homebound/alternative setting instructors, APE, GPE, vision specialists, and orientation and mobility specialists.
Related services: audiologists, social workers, counseling services, medical personnel, occupational therapists, paraeducators, recreation therapists, etc.