Inclusive Placement Opportunities
for Preschoolers:
A Systems Approach to Preschool
Inclusive Practices
A project of the
Virginia Department of Education
and the
Training and Technical Assistance
Centers of Virginia
Routines-based assessment
Agenda
•
•
•
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Why conduct routines-based assessments?
Steps in routines-based assessments
o
Assessing within classroom routines
 How to prepare
 How to conduct
o
Routines-based interview with family
 How to prepare
 How to conduct
How to analyze assessment results and identify
functional goals to teach
Amend children’s IEPs (if applicable)
What is Routine-Based
Assessment?
Activity
Why use a routines-based
assessment?
Use routines-based
assessment because …
•
Ongoing assessments in their natural routines
is a recommended practice
•
It allows teachers to see a complete picture of a child
if assessments are conducted related to home and
school routines
•
RBA ensures that what is identified to teach is relevant
and worth learning
Setting the stage
•
Assess the classroom
•
Early Childhood
Environment Rating
Scale-Revised (ECERSR)
•
Quality Classroom
Assessment
Gathering information
for an individual child
•
Prepare for assessments
o
Develop and select tools to use to gather information
about each child within the classroom

Observation

Potential objectives
•
Develop routines-based assessment plans
•
Make individual portfolios
RBA for each child
•
Who will do the observational assessment(s)?
•
What type(s) of assessment(s) will be done?
•
How and when will assessment results be shared?
Prepare for the school observation
•
Who will be observed?
o
•
What will be observed?
o
•
Gertrude and Jaun
Physical (fine and gross
motor), social-emotional
and cognitive skills
What routines and activities will
the child's performance be observed in?
o
Arrival, circle, centers, snack, story, outdoor play,
lunch and dismissal
Prepare for the school observation
•
Time period/routines and activities
o
8:30-8:45 – Circle
o
Beginning: Sit on a rug in circle
o
o
Middle: Sing, discuss theme, review calendar
and choose jobs
End: Choose and go to a center
Individual portfolios
•
When using portfolios consider:
o
3-ring notebooks
o
Accordion folders
o
Pizza boxes
o
Poster boards and brads
o
Child-made portfolio
Five areas of a portfolio
1)
Record of progress
2)
Initial assessment results
3)
Program goals and objectives
4)
Areas of development
5)
Correspondence with the family
Let's practice
Assessments in routines
from teachers
•
Determine levels of engagement in classroom routines
•
Scale for the Assessment of Teachers’ Impressions
of Routines and Engagement (STARE)
o
Provides a framework for interviewing teachers about
how the focal child functions during daily classroom
routines.
Scale for Teachers’ Assessment of Routines Engagement
R.A. McWilliam
Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
©2000
Directions: Observe the child for 10 minutes in each of the following routines. First, rate
the amount of time the child is engaged with adults, peers and materials. Second, rate
the complexity of the child's engagement. There is space to add additional or alternate
routines at the end of the scale.
Arrival
Almost none of
the time
Little of the time
Half of the
time
Much of the
time
Almost all
of the time
With adults
1
2
3
4
5
With peers
1
2
3
4
5
With materials
1
2
3
4
5
Complexity
Nonengaged
1
Unsophisticated
2
Average
3
Advanced
4
Sophisticated
5
Involving families
in the process
How do we involve families:
functional intervention planning
•
Need a structure for families to have a meaningful role
in planning
•
Need to emphasize that intervention is family-centered
•
Need a list of functional outcomes
•
Need a method for jumpstarting a positive relationship
with families
McWilliam 2004
Answer to needs:
routine-based interview
•
Interview
o
Family on home routines
o
Teacher on classroom routines
Useful scale for the RBI
•
Scale for Assessment of Family Enjoyment within
Routines (SAFER)
o
Provides a framework for gathering information from
the family about home and community routines
Who conducts the RBI?
•
Classroom teacher
•
Director of center or program
•
Specialists
Note: Any member of the child’s team who is involved with
assessment and intervention planning can do the RBI.
Steps in routines-based assessment
•
Conduct routines-based assessments
o
o
o
Interview each child’s family
Conduct school observation and compare
to checklist
of potential objectives for each child
File school observation and family interview results
in each child’s portfolio
RBI pointers
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Two people plus the family during the RBI is ideal
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Keep the interviews conversational
Interviewing skills
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Relax – do not ask a checklist of questions
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Show real interest – do not make it look perfunctory
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Empathize – do not be poker-faced
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Accept – do not judge
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Use your strengths – do not assume everyone has
or should have the same style
Preparation for the
routine-based interview
•
Divorce eligibility evaluations from intervention planning;
once eligible for services, use the routine-based
interview process for planning interventions
•
Prepare families to report on routines
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Prepare classroom staff to report on routines
Routines in the home
•
Times of the day
o
o
Families wake up, eat, hang out and go places
Teachers have daily activities or events in their
classrooms, usually reflected on the classroom
schedule, such as centers, circle and snack
Preparing families for the RBI
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Inform them that you are interested in learning about
their priorities for their child
•
Inform them that a way to learn about their priorities is
to hear about what daily life is like for them and what
routines are in place
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Provide forms to them if they desire a structured
approach for preparing
Family-centered practices
•
When planning for the RBI, ask families their
preferences for:
o
Who will be there
o
What will happen
o
Where it will take place
o
When it will take place
Six steps to the RBI
1. Prepare the family to report on routines
2. Family reports on their routines
3. Teacher reports on classroom routines
4. Interviewer reviews concern and strength areas
5. Family and teacher select outcomes
6. Family and teacher put outcomes into priority order
Step 1: Prepare for
the family interview
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Family routines
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Relating with others
•
Family and community activities
Let’s observe an interview
Step 2: Family reports
on their routines
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Begin with the start of the family’s day
•
For each routine, six questions are answered:
o
What does everyone do at this time?
o
What does the child do?
o
How does the child participate (engagement)?
o
o
o
What does the child do by him or herself
(independence)?
How does the child communicate and get along
with others (social relationships)?
How satisfied is the family with the routine?
Looking at family routines
Step 3: Teacher reports
on classroom routines
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Teacher shares information
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Family and teacher discuss information
Step 4: Interviewer reviews
concern and strength areas
•
Refresh family’s memory
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Recap concerns with the family
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Show them the starred items
Interview wrap up
Step 5: Family and teacher
select outcomes
•
Outcomes are the potential problem areas identified
during the interview
•
Keep wording of outcomes the same as the family’s
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Six to 10 outcomes are typically generated
•
Be prepared to remind the family of concern areas
described during interview but not mentioned at this step
Step 6: Family and teacher put
outcomes into priority order
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Show list of outcomes to family
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Ask them to put them in order of importance
•
From this point forward, the outcomes will always
be listed in priority order
RBI review
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Go through each routine with family
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Get a sense of family and child functioning
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Write down significant information
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Star concerns
•
Recap concerns with family, showing them
the starred items
RBI review (cont’d)
•
Ask the family what they would like to concentrate on
•
Write down these outcomes
•
Ask them for the priority order of outcomes
•
Begin to develop functional goals based on family
and teacher priorities
Hallmark feature of the RBI
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The RBI leads directly to objectives that are:
o
Functional
o
Meaningful
o
Consistent across environments
Functionality test
When reading a goal …
the answer to
“Why is the child working on this goal?”
should be immediately apparent
within the goal itself
How to write functional goals
Five guiding principles:
1.
Make outcome statements meaningful
2.
Objectives and strategies should make use of existing
attributes
3.
Evaluate outcomes meaningfully
4.
Encourage all to have an investment in outcomes
5.
Functionality guides writing
Guiding principles in action
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Meaningful
o Kim will hang up her jacket on the hook with her name
Make use of existing attributes
o Kim likes to see her name in writing
Evaluate outcomes meaningfully
o Kim will hang up her jacket once a day
Everyone is invested
o Kim’s family will use a hook at home for jackets
Functionality
o Kim is currently dropping her jacket on the floor
in a hurry, becoming upset when asked to return
from free play to hang it up
When writing goals …
•
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Remember the three child behaviors of
o
Engagement
o
Independence
o
Social relationships
Remember that goals do not belong to domains
Engagement
An engaged child
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Shows attention in participation
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Demonstrates goal-directed behavior
Independence
Independence enables a child to
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Access materials
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Move about within the environment
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Interact with others
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Develop feelings of competence
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Have a sense of accomplishment
Social relationships
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Interaction with adults and peers
•
Children with developmental disabilities often have
difficulty developing peer-related social competence
Let’s practice
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3-year-old with developmental delays
o
o
o
o
Student will stack blocks to form a tower 3 out
of 4 trials over a week
Student will walk up and down three steps when
in physical therapy
Student will use a spoon to eat applesauce during
the daily lunch
Student will share toys with others during center time
Identify objectives to teach
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While playing, Jaun will:
o
o
o
Build complex structures with building materials
(e.g., using blocks to make bridges)
Complete interlocking toys (e.g., puzzles with
up to six pieces, Lincoln logs, Legos)
Have daily experiences with concepts of literacy,
works and letters (e.g., by pretending to read books,
having books read to him, having words and their
meanings described, seeing words that label familiar
objects, writing pretend letters, writing own name,
writing in own journal)
Identify objectives to teach
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To participate more in daily routines, Gertrude will:
o
Use a jelly bean switch while playing to:

Activate age-appropriate computer programs
and table toys with peers while sitting in a vac
pac secured to a child-size chair

Play a tape recorded clean-up song, circle song
or story on tape, while lying over a bolster or sitting
in a corner chair
Identify objectives to teach (cont’d)
•
To participate more in daily routines, Gertrude will:
o
Play by reaching, grasping (using fingers against
palms) and using:

Sand and water toys and cooking items with
peers with adult support to stand while wearing
knee stabilizers

Stuffed animals with peers
Revise the IEP
•
Amend children’s IEPs (if applicable)
o
Reconvene IEP teams
o
Amend IEPs with newly identified objectives
Thoughts/Questions/Comments
?