IDENTIFICATION & REFERRAL INTAKE FAMILY ASSESSMENT CHILD EVALUATION FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT CHILD AND FAMILY INFORMATION CHILD HEALTH INFORMATION FAMILY CONCERNS, RESOURCES, PRIORITIES CHILD/FAMILY ROUTINES & ACTIVITIES CHILD’S PRESENT LEVELS ELIGIBILITY SUMMARY OF FUNCTIONAL PERFORMANCE (COS) PROCESS IFSP FUNCTIONAL OUTCOMES STRATEGIES

More understandable, measureable individualized IFSP Outcomes / IEP Goals Families can tell when their children are achieving desired outcomes Reinforces the assessment and planning cycle Improves practice Supports progress in the overarching areas that are central to EI and ECSE 2 Additional Benefits of an Integrated Process

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 3 “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. What is Functional Assessment?

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 4 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

Our Focus Shifts FromTo 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 5 Functional Assessment

Families and familiar, knowledgeable caregivers in the child’s life Providers Teachers Others, less familiar, can also contribute 6 Who performs Functional Assessment?

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! 7 How is Functional Assessment performed?

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 8 Involving Families

Functional assessment is the means by which we accomplish an integrated process, including developing individual outcomes/goals as well as determining the rating for each of the three global child outcomes. 9 Making the Connection: Using Functional Assessment

Why not complete the Child Outcome Summary (COS) rating while talking about the child’s functioning and development? Providers who are integrating the outcomes work, suggest that the completing the COS rating at the IFSP or IEP meeting to summarize the assessment results is a natural and enriching conversation Outcomes and goals become more functional – routine and activity based For more information about integrating outcomes into the IFSP/IEP process, please visit the ECO website at The Right People, the Right Situation, the Right Time