1. Arizona Early Intervention Program -Assessment Part I-
Read the Slide
Welcome to the Arizona Early Intervention Program’s presentation on the changes in Assessment.  These changes are the result of new federal requirements for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part C.  This webinar is one in a series created to help Arizona’s early intervention community understand and implement the Child and Family Assessment as required under IDEA.

2. Authors Anne Lucas Kathi Gillaspy Mary Peters NECTAC / WRRC
NECTAC / ECO
Mary Peters
NECTAC
The purpose of this presentation is to support professionals (such as teachers, caregivers, providers, practitioners) and families to understand how to:
Gather information about the child’s functioning in everyday routines and activities from multiple sources
Differentiate appropriate uses of conventional versus functional assessment
Partner with families in conducting functional assessment
With contributions from Naomi Younggren, Department of Defense/Army Early Intervention; Debbie Cate, NECTAC; Megan Vinh, WRRC; Joicey Hurth, NECTAC/NERRC; Christina Kasprzak, NECTAC/ECO; and Grace Kelley, SERRC
NECTAC/ECO/WRRC 2012

3. Functional Assessment
Learning Objective
Understand how to:
Gather information about the child’s functioning
Differentiate conventional vs. functional assessment
Partner with families
IFSP Outcomes
Meaningful
3 Global Child Outcomes
Functional Assessment
The purpose of this presentation is to support professionals (such as teachers, caregivers, providers, practitioners) and families to understand how to:
Gather information about the child’s functioning in everyday routines and activities from multiple sources
Differentiate appropriate uses of conventional versus functional assessment
Partner with families in conducting functional assessment
NECTAC/ECO/WRRC 2012

4. Functional Assessment
What is Functional Assessment?
Why is Functional Assessment Foundational?
Who does Functional Assessment?
Where is Functional Assessment done?
How is Functional Assessment done?
The research indicates that to be effective in supporting families to understand and influence their children’s development, we have to begin the planning process for services with functional assessment. Through the information gathered in the functional assessment process, we have the foundation necessary to develop functional outcomes and goals for young children with identified needs.
In this presentation, we will cover:
What is functional assessment?
Why is functional assessment foundational?
Who does functional assessment?
Where is functional assessment done?
How is functional assessment done?
Adapted from: Younggren, N. (May, 2011). Quality Practices in Early Intervention and Preschool Programs – Authentic Assessment. Power Point presentation presented at the Pacific TA Meeting, Honolulu, HI.
NECTAC/ECO/WRRC 2012

5. What is Functional Assessment?
Assessment of the young child’s skills in the real life contexts of family, culture and community rather than discrete isolated tasks irrelevant to daily life
“the science of the strange behavior of children, with strange adults, in strange settings for the briefest possible period of time.”
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Nature and Design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Functional or authentic assessment of a young child’s skills happens in the real life contexts of family, culture and community rather than in isolation.
Functional assessment results in reflecting the “whole child”.
Urie Bronfenbrenner (Ecological Systems Theorist) quipped that assessment is “the science of the strange behavior of children, with strange adults, in strange settings for the briefest possible period of time.”
There are many right ways to provide functional assessment including a transdisciplinary play-based model, or in conjunction with intentionally designed ongoing functional assessment. When we truly value authentic information gathered from a functional assessment we can approach more traditional evaluation in ways that are child and family friendly.
Functional assessment takes place in the context of everyday behaviors with familiar adults in comfortable, known settings and over time. It relies on information reported by those who know the child well and have observed the child’s ongoing development and learning.
NECTAC/ECO/WRRC 2012

6. Functional Assessment is…
Contextually relevant information about the child’s strengths and needs
Individually focused
Culturally sensitive
Functional Assessment is not…
Domain based and discipline specific
Deficit driven
Intimidating
Bagnato, S.J., Neisworth, J.T., & Pretti-Frontczak, K. Linking Authentic Assessment and Early Childhood Intervention -Best Measures for Best Practices, Second Edition. Brookes Publishing, Baltimore, MD
Assessment is conducted and interpreted within the framework of how the child functions within a number of social and cultural systems: Ecological (considers the social context of the child in the family, neighborhood, and community) and ethnographic (considers the cultural context).
Research shows that functional assessment yields more valid and usable assessment results. Let’s look at how this changes our perspective…
NECTAC/ECO/WRRC 2012

7. Functional Assessment
Our Focus Shifts
From To
Knows how to make eye contact, smile, and give a hug
Initiates affection toward caregivers and respond to others’ affection
Knows how to imitate a gesture when prompted by others
Watches what a peer says or does and incorporate it into his/her own play
Uses finger in pointing motion
Points to indicate needs or wants
Shows a skill in a specific situation
Uses a skill in actions across settings and situations to accomplish something meaningful to the child
Our focus shifts from specific skills in specific situations to a more complete functional picture of the child. For example, our focus shifts from noticing that the child makes eye contact, smiles and gives hugs to noticing how the child initiates affection with the important people in his/her life.
Trainer Notes:
Review the examples on the slide and invite participants to share their own examples. Handout #1-specific examples; opportunity for participants to record and share
NECTAC/ECO/WRRC 2012

8. Functional Assessment is Authentic
The more realistic or natural the task,
the more motivated the child
the more applicable it is to everyday events and situations
Authentic tasks and circumstances reinforce
competency-based approach to the education of young children
assessment of all disciplines across complex skills and processes
generalization of learning across settings
Authentic tasks require the assessor to make no inferences about a child's capabilities, because the behaviors sampled are directly observable
Authenticity is important because the more realistic the task, the more motivated the child will be, and the more applicable it is to every day events and situations. Authentic tasks reinforce the competency-based approach used in educating young children, assessment across disciplines of complex skills and processes, and generalization across learning settings.
What does that mean? It means that we look at what a child can do. For example, how does a child participate in getting dressed? Do they show anticipation, for example, raising their arms? Do they assist by pulling their shirt down? If age appropriate, are they picking their own clothes? All of these examples require and show competency across all domains.
In order to truly be multi-disciplinary, we need to use all of the information gathered to gain a holistic picture of how that child is functioning within the context of their activities or routines. Handout #2 or follow up to Handout #1
Finally, authentic tasks require that the assessor make no inference about the child’s capabilities because the behaviors sampled are directly observable.
Delaney, E. (1999). Curriculum and Intervention Strategies [Presentation]. Presented at SPED 508.
Retrieved from
NECTAC/ECO/WRRC 2012

9. Conventional Assessment
Usefulness of Conventional Assessment:
To distinguish typical from atypical performance
To provide one more source of information
“Everything that can be measured counts,
but not everything that counts
can be measured.”
Conventional assessment has its place in early intervention and early childhood special education. Standardized testing helps us to distinguish typical from atypical performance, and often the scores are reported in ‘percent delay’ or standard deviations that many states require for determining a child’s eligibility.
However, traditional standardized evaluations alone do not:
provide the information needed to develop functional IFSPs that can be implemented within the day to day routines of the family/school/community/child care.
determine what the child is able to do, likes to do, or needs to do in regard to the family’s/caregivers’ priorities.
provide a clear understanding of the child’s abilities across environments and care providers – this is accomplished through observation and information sharing.
If the child already has a diagnosed condition, or an evaluation that is less than 6 months old, and demonstrates a 50% delay in one or more area, and evaluation is not necessary nor a discipline-specific assessment.
NECTAC/ECO/WRRC 2012

10. Why is Functional Fundamental?
Yields a real picture of the child
Guides identification of functional individualized outcomes
Functional assessment practices translate family concerns, such as:
“She can’t let others know what she wants.”
“He doesn’t sit at the table with us during meals.”
into positive statements, such as:
“I want her to be able to let others know what she wants.”
“I want him to be able to sit with us during meals.”
Ultimately, this guides the identification of functional individualized outcomes.
The assessment team gains valuable information when they inquire about the child’s preferences for activities, materials, play partners, schedules, and detailed health and developmental information.
NECTAC/ECO/WRRC 2012

11. Who performs Functional Assessment?
Families and familiar, knowledgeable caregivers in the child’s life
Providers
Teachers
Others, less familiar, can also contribute
The authentic assessment of infants and toddlers requires specialized training and skills beyond the training and skills needed for older children.
Team members should include individuals who have the expertise necessary to assess the unique needs of the young child suspected of having a disability.
Functional Assessment is conducted by a team of families and professionals from various disciplines.
The team can observe and analyze a wide range of tasks/skills and provide a greater sampling of behaviors in real and natural contexts.
Functional information enhances team observations and validates team findings.
Of course, when we work in teams, communication between and among team members is needed to provide a coordinated process, minimize the intrusiveness of the process for the child, family, and others in the setting, and to ensure that a comprehensive process is completed.
Collaboration amongst team members conducting the assessment is essential in capturing information across all developmental areas. Gathering a rich and detailed picture of a family’s daily routines and activities, and how the child participates within these activities and routines, is crucial in the development of functional outcomes that drive the family’s supports and services.
NECTAC/ECO/WRRC 2012

12. When is Functional Assessment performed?
Over time:
“One-time observations even in the natural context, are insufficient and often misleading.”
You’ve probably already noticed that observation is a theme throughout this section. Functional assessment involves:
observation of the child in natural circumstances, and
information shared about the observations of people familiar with the child.
When families share their observations, we develop a more complete and accurate picture of the child. It’s important to let families know that you value their observations and participation in ongoing authentic assessment. Giving families concrete examples of the kinds of information you would like them to share is helpful.
Functional assessment is conducted over time and across settings. One can think of this as part of the joint plan that you develop at the end of each visit, and review at the beginning of the next visit. This discussion and joint plan is part of the functional assessment as it provides information on progress, what is working, what is not working, as well as child engagement and participation.
Bagnato, S.J., Neisworth, J.T., & Pretti-Frontczak, K. Linking Authentic Assessment and Early Childhood Intervention -Best Measures for Best Practices, Second Edition. Brookes Publishing, Baltimore, MD
NECTAC/ECO/WRRC 2012

13. How is Functional Assessment performed?
Knowing the purpose for the assessment is important
Observation is essential:
Keep a focus on being objective vs. subjective
Record keeping is key:
Qualitative
Quantitative
Hearing from others who know the child is critical – involve families!
Functional assessment is done through gathering and compiling information about the child’s functioning from multiple sources, using multiple approaches to assessment, and observing across multiple settings in order to yield information that links assessment to services, programs and outcomes.
Selecting appropriate assessment tools is an important part of the functional assessment process, so being clear about the purpose of the assessment is critical. Tests used for the purposes of determining eligibility may be norm referenced, criterion referenced or curriculum based. However, the most reliable information about young children is generated when these tools are used within an authentic/functional assessment model. This process may include record review, developmental history, interviews, checklists/rating scales, anecdotal recordings, portfolios, technology, the use of the Child and Family Assessment and Guide, child entry and exit indicators and observation.
It is important to note that data gathered from more traditional methods are not as effective in providing functional information for developing IFSPs, developing outcomes, in planning services, or in measuring the 3 entry and exit indicators (list) , hence the need for using multiple sources of information.
Handout: What is Qualitative record keeping within AzEIP?
What is Quantitative record keeping within AzEIP?
How is progress measured? Entry and Exit indicators – qualitative data and information translated into quantitavie data on the indicator form (TEAM).
NECTAC/ECO/WRRC 2012

14. Involving Families Listen to the family story
Observe and ask about the child’s day-to-day routines and activities related to
engagement
independence
social relationships
Ask parents to show or describe
Observe how the parent engages the child
Observe the child in play scenarios
Involving families is key in conducting functional assessment, developing functional IFSP outcomes, and measuring the entry and exit indicators required by the program.
Involving families in functional assessment is more than asking questions, going over questionnaires, or developmental profiles. To truly involve families providers must:
Listen to the family story-it is important to listen beyond the family’s story and acknowledge feelings first, and deal with facts second. McWilliams page 24-25, Routines Based Early Intervention, 2010
Observe and ask about the child’s everyday routines and activities related to engagement, independence and social relationships,
Ask parents to show or describe what happens in everyday routines and activities,
Observe parent/caregiver/child interactions, and
Observe the child playing.
Data gathered from more traditional methods are not as effective in providing functional information for developing IFSPs, developing outcomes, in planning services, or in measuring entry and exit indicators.
Example: A family shares their child’s diagnosis. We don’t stop and interrupt them. We let them tell their story, we listen and we acknowledge. Once we feel that a family has had time to share, then we can revisit the specifics of the conversation regarding the diagnosis and record information.
NECTAC/ECO/WRRC 2012

15. How: Gathering Relevant Information…
Improve Functional Abilities
Social Relations
Engagement
Independence
Routines/Activities
not going well
Employ Strategies
Hindering
Factors
Helping Factors
Identify Learning Opportunities
Enhance Learning Opportunities
Employ Strategies
This chart illustrates how this information can be helpful. Let’s start on the left hand side of the chart.
If, through conversation with the family, the family shares that bath time is a great time of day for the child and family, the team may think about identifying and enhancing learning opportunities during that time of day. Let’s say that having the child use words to express wants and needs is a priority for the family. The team may be able to employ some intervention strategies during bath time that will ultimately increase the child’s functional abilities to use words throughout the day. Routines and activities that are going well provide a great opportunity to identify and enhance learning opportunities to address family priorities.
On the flip side, if the family shares information about routines and activities that are not going well, these may become priorities that families want to work on with early intervention. For example, if bath time was very difficult because the child fusses and has difficulty sitting in the tub, the team may identify the hindering and helping factors, and employ intervention strategies to ultimately improve bath time. This in turn promotes the child’s functional abilities in the areas of social relationships, engagement and independence.
By understanding what is going well and what is challenging, the team can work within those natural routines to increase the child’s functional abilities.
Improve Routine
Promote
Social Relations
Engagement
Independence
Routines/Activities
going well
Campbell, P. [n.d.] Intervention Decision-Making Chart. Thomas Jefferson University. Retrieved September 2012 from
NECTAC/ECO/WRRC 2012

16. Questions Related to Everyday Activities and Routines
How is bath time going for you?
How is it going for your child? How’s it going for other caregivers?
Who is involved in bath time?
What does your child’s participation in bath time look like?
What does your participation look like?
What is happening when your child’s engagement is most positive?
What is happening when your child’s engagement is most difficult?
What would bath time look like if it were going well?
Trainer notes: It is important to note that these are “starter” questions.
Ask the participants the following questions:
“How do you build upon these questions?
Call on a participant.
Example:
A: What does your child’s participation look like during bath time?
P: She cries the entire time?
A: Does she cry when you put her in the bath, or does she begin crying before that?
P: She cries the minute she hears the water.
Trainer:
At this point, ask participants for some other follow up questions they could ask.
NECTAC/ECO/WRRC 2012

17. Questions Related to Priorities, Resources and Concerns
It is important to guide the conversation to what is relevant to both the child and family, modifying the words you use to match their situation and probe for further information.
You mentioned concerns regarding Can you tell me a little bit more about that?
Are there any other programs your family is involved in?
How would you like other family members/caregivers to be involved in Early Intervention?
How would you like your physician to be involved?
Trainer notes:
Provide “splash pad” example:
You mentioned earlier that your child loves to go to the splash pad, however the only one you know of is far from you and she doesn’t do well on car rides. Are you interested in learning where there are other splash pads or activities like that that you can take her to?
It is important to guide the conversation to what is relevant to both the child and family, modifying the words you use to match their situation and probe for further information.
Involving families through the questions we ask about everyday activities and routines is how we focus on what is functional for the family.
NECTAC/ECO/WRRC 2012

18. Where is Functional Assessment performed?
Only in the children’s natural everyday settings, activities, and routines
Where is functional assessment conducted? It is conducted only in the child’s natural everyday settings, activities and routines.
Trainer notes:
Ask the participants:
 “How do you know where that is?”
Then respond,
“Ask the family!”
NECTAC/ECO/WRRC 2012

19. Thank You!
Questions? Submit to For more information:
Trainer notes:
Add the contact information for the presenters on this slide. Consider including name, address and/or phone number.
This product was adapted from work developed by staff from NECTAC, WRRC and ECO in response to the need expressed from state and local providers to have specific information and resources about developing IFSP outcomes. The full training package, including a full reference list, is freely available online:
NECTAC/ECO/WRRC 2012