Missy Doylida

Final Assignment Part 1 Identifying Information:

Childs Name: Johnny Date of Birth: May 25th, 2009 Age: 4 years old Examiner: Missy Doylida Location: House Date of Assessment: December 7th, 2013 Date of Report: December 8th, 2013 Tests Used: AEPS-Fine Motor Skills, Adaptive Skills Language Used: English

Background Information:
Johnnys parents told me Johnny has no specific diagnosis, but he has some physical and speech delays. Johnny also has some trouble with balance and constantly needs stimulation and is looking for something to do. Johnnys depth perception is a little off, and when he was younger he had surgery on his eyes because they shook causing it to be hard for him to focus when he looked down at something. Johnnys mom said the surgery helped a lot and he focuses better now. Johnny has both an occupational and speech therapist, and works with other specialists on behavior issues. He goes to preschool in Urbana which is where he receives the services, and he does much better with structure.

Johnnys parents said when he was born they could already see delays in things such as lifting his head and making noises. He also slept a lot more than considered typical. As a result, Johnny started receiving early intervention services around 6 months. He started walking at about 22 months, and his words started coming at about 3. He became potty trained at almost 4 years old.

Method of Assessment:
The method of assessment I used was the AEPS. The AEPS is criterion referenced and separated by developmental domains. It is an observational tool that is typically done several times a year. The AEPS in used for progress monitoring and is scored with a 0, 1, or 2 so emerging skills can be recognized as well. This assessment also allows for the teacher or person using it to write notes on the test expressing modifications made. I had to give my assessment to Johnny at home because the child did not go to the school. Because it was at home, I chose to do the fine motor skills section and the adaptive section. The fine motor skills section was easily doable because the kitchen table was available for cutting, drawing, and writing. The table also helped with adaptive skills because I could see Johnny have a snack and talk to his parents about his food habits. We also had access to a nearby bathroom and to clothes from Johnnys room to see him do things like zip his coat and put on his shoes.

Results of Assessment:
For fine motor, Johnnys area raw score was a 15 and his area percent score was 50%. The fine motor skills area took longer than I expected because it took Johnny a little while to start cutting and writing. When he did do it though, he uses one hand to hold the paper while he draws or cuts with the other, and he also drew and copied different shapes such as a circle and square. He can make a house too using the square shape. When he did this, he did not use a three finger grasp on the marker, but he did hold the scissors correctly. He cut his paper in two and by default he cut with a straight line, but his parents told me if they draw something for him he cant cut on the line to cut it out. Johnny is also tracing letters, especially those in his name, but he is not copying them yet. They hope to see that skill soon. The adaptive skills section was fairly straight forward. Johnnys area raw score was a 58 and his area percent score was 83% Johnny tried to prepare his own food as much as he can. He can pour drinks into his cup and is starting to use a knife to spread but it is hard for him. Johnny and his parents make pancakes and play-doh all the time with him. When eating, Johnny uses a fork and spoon when appropriate and eats a variety of food. Johnny uses a cup to drink out of and he doesnt usually spill. Johnny can go to the bathroom all by himself and washes his hands after. He sings the ABCs to make sure he is washing his hands for long enough. He can brush his teeth, but his parents usually get a turn too, and Johnny can dry himself off, wash his face, and comb his hair by himself. He doesnt use a tissue to clean his nose though. His parents said if someone hands him a tissue he will use it, but he wont go and get one. Lastly, Johnnys parents told me Johnny can unfasten the fasteners on his garments, but he has a hard time fastening

them. The only one he can really do is Velcro. His parents hope to see buttons start to be done soon. He can, however, dress himself in long pants, pullover garments, shoes, underpants, and shorts.

Summary:
Johnny is great at cutting paper with scissors held correctly and copying shapes. He is working on drawing and writing skills though. It is hard for him to copy letters or his name, and he struggles with holding the pencil correctly. On the other hand he holds a fork and spoon correctly to help him eat, and he eats a variety of foods with those utensils. Johnny also can take care of almost all his personal hygiene skills. Getting dressed is easy for Johnny, but he is still working on fastening fasteners to put the finishing touches on his outfits. Overall, Johnny likes to be independent and do his own thing. Sometimes he didnt want to do as he was asked, but when given a choice he responded much better.

Missy Doylida

Final Assignment Part 2 Summary and Critique:

Johnny is an intelligent child. He likes to play and explore new things on his terms. The house has many different play options for Johnny to explore and express his creativity. Johnny likes to draw and doesnt let any limitations stop him. He is full of life and gets excited about different opportunities. Johnny loves to play on his Ipad, and he knows that when he is listening and following expectations he will get a reward. The parents of Johnny are loving and patient with him. They have had a special connection since the moment they met Johnny at a few weeks old, and all the siblings are kind to him as well. Johnny idolizes his big brothers, and that has helped encourage Johnny to do certain things and practice some of his skills such as social and academic when trying to show off. I see that Johnny does need a lot of attention, and that is mostly be because of his delays, but with many older siblings, he may like the attention too. His parents are trying to address the needs of all their children. The services Johnny receives are helping him. I can see improvements from the first time I met him until now which has only been a few months. The main concern is Johnnys behavior issues, and rewarding him seems to work the majority of the time, but it is important to find an alternative strategy in case it doesnt work anymore. A strength of all the methods used to gather information was they required you to talk to the family. They required you to get to know the family and learn about them so you can see why the child is doing what he or she is doing, and at the very least understand the environment that is having impact on the child. Knowing these things help you not jump to

conclusions and understand the child better. Parents know their child best, and it would be hard to get an accurate report without them. The family routine was helping in learning the background of the child, but it also didnt require the child to be there, and I wish I had met Johnny earlier than the environment assessment. If I did this again, I would request Johnny be there for that meeting as well. The environmental assessment was helpful because I got to see Johnny in his home, natural environment, and I was able to meet Johnny on his own terms. He felt more comfortable with me being there with all of his familiar toys around him. I got to talk to parents like for the family interview, but I could also see what they were talking about when they gave examples. It was helpful to be able to envision their home in my head when they talked about their routines and other things they did with Johnny. I know they knew I was coming to their house, but I thought they felt a little uncomfortable with the level of cleanliness in their home. Unfortunately I could not observe the child at school, but next time I might have picked a different hour to go so the parents could feel more comfortable with me being there. I really like the AEPS assessment. I like that I can take notes and it evaluates emerging skills as well. The only thing that was hard for me was I had to do the assessment in the home, so things like social and gross motor skills werent an option to evaluate. Having to do the whole project out of Johnnys home was a major limitation, but overall it ended up working out fine. Looking back on the semester, I have learned about a ton of different assessment tools. I feel much more comfortable now picking one up, looking it over, and administering it. I have learned I like the assessments that allow progress to be shown and are less black and white in terms of results. Im proud to say that I would use AEPS in my classroom and feel confident in my results. When we first received all the information I felt slightly overwhelmed and nervous

that there was a lot of information and as a result, I would get inaccurate information. After practicing a few times I feel much better and understand how effective the assessment tools can be. I have also learned how ineffective the tools can be too, and I want to work on being able to identify those better. We have had some examples in class, but I want to make sure I know how to choose an assessment that will only benefit my students. I thought assessing children with special needs wouldnt be very difficult. I thought either the child could do it or they needed help doing it, but I have learned there is much more to that. I was surprised to learn how difficult administering a test to a child with special needs is. It takes a lot of time and patience to have the child do exactly what the assessment is looking for. I luckily had Johnnys parents to help me and had lots of time to observe Johnny, but in a classroom Im sure it is extremely difficult to devote all the time and energy on one child while trying to help manage everything else. That just proves how important knowing the assessment you are using is so you can administer it more smoothly and take less time doing it.