Life Skills Assessment Options in
Transition Planning
Gary M. Clark, Ed.D.
Department of Special Education
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045
gclark@ku.edu
Life Skills and Appropriate Measurement
of Functional Achievement
Transition services…a results-oriented
process that is focused on improving the
academic and functional achievement of
the child with a disability to facilitate the
child’s movement from school to
postschool activities………
Life Skills and Appropriate Measurement
of Functional Achievement
The IEP for students 16 and older (and younger
when appropriate), must have:
“..appropriate measurable postsecondary goals
based upon age-appropriate transition
assessments related to training, education,
employment, and, where appropriate,
independent living skills;”
What do we mean by life skills?
 Daily
living skills
 Independent
 Community
living skills
participation skills
Examples of daily living skills…..
Grooming and hygiene
 Appropriate choices in nutrition
 Appropriate care of clothing
 Responsible for personal belongings
 Knowing how to respond to symptoms of
illness, accidents, or emergencies
 Appropriate use of leisure time
 Basic money management skills

Examples of independent living
skills…
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Mobility and orientation skills (including driving or
use of public transportation)
Advanced skills of clothing selection and clothing
care
Advanced skills in personal care (grooming, hygiene,
appropriate fashion choices)
Advanced skills in personal responsibility for
nutrition, fitness, and health care
Advanced skills in money management and
consumer skills
Skills in finding and securing appropriate residential
choices
Examples of community
participation skills…
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Skills in locating and using community leisure and
recreation facilities
Skills in accessing community agencies (health,
rehabilitation, employment, etc.)
Appropriate consumer skills in the community
Skills in accessing social opportunities for personal
enjoyment and/or personal growth
Interpersonal skills with family and others
Responsible community behavior (civility)
Responsible behavior as a citizen (voting, paying
taxes,obeying laws, volunteering, conservation,etc.)
Assessing Daily Living Skills
with Formal Assessments
 Adaptive
behavior scales

AAMR Adaptive Behavior Scale
(School Edition)

Adaptive Behavior Inventory

Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale

Scales of Independent Behavior

Street Survival Skills Questionnaire
Assessing Daily Living Skills with
Formal Assessments, cont’d.
Responsibility and Independence Scale
for Adolescents (RISA)
 Kaufman Functional Academic Skills Test
(K-FAST)

Responsibility and Independence Scale
for Adolescents
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Ages 12-20, mild disabilities or students at risk
Subscales: Domestic Skills, Money
Management, Citizenship, Personal Planning,
Transportation Skills, Career Development,
Self-Management, Social Maturity, and Social
Communication
Scaled scores and percentile ranks based on
norm groups
Administration time, 30-45 minutes
Assessing Daily Living Skills,
cont’d.
Commercially available life skills
assessments:

BRIGANCE® Life Skills Inventory

Life Centered Career Education
Knowledge and Performance Batteries

Life Skills Inventory (LSI)
LCCE
Knowledge
Battery
Assessing Independent
Living Skills
Commercially available instruments:

Ansell-Casey Life Skills Assessment (Level
III)

Functional Skills Screening Inventory

General Transition Assessment
Instruments that Include
Vocational/Occupational Assessment
Enderle-Severson Transition Rating
Scales
 LCCE Competency Assessment
Knowledge Batteries
 Transition Skills Inventory (TSI)
 Transition Behavior Scale (2/e) (TBS)
 Transition Planning Inventory (TPI-UV)
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Assessing Daily Living Skills with
Informal Assessments
Informal assessment options:

Checklists

Interviews

Observations

Situational assessments for specific skills

Ecological or environmental assessments

Functional evaluations
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Checklists
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1.
2.
3.
4.
Advantages:
Permit assessment of a variety of
behaviors
Permit quick responses
Eliminate students’ need to write
Quick/efficient for teachers and parents
Checklists
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1.
2.
3.
4.
Disadvantages:
Requires reading
Many responses are not easily answered
with Yes/No or a simple check that the
behavior/trait applies most of the time
No chance to immediately probe answers
Problems in reliability
Structured Interviews
A structured interview is an informal
assessment technique, but it has structure to
it.
An interview protocol is used to stay focused
on the area of information desired, but
probes or questions asking for clarification or
examples are permitted.
Examples of Structured
Interview Questions
What chore can you do best at home?
Why do you think that is your best?
 Can you plan and prepare a meal for
yourself? For others?
 Do you do all of your own laundering of
clothes? If not all, any part of it?
 Do you have a driver’s license?
 Can you use a city bus?
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Observations
Life skills observations are more
difficult to do for school personnel.
The obvious alternative is to use
checklists and interviews with
families to take advantage of their
observations.
Assessment in the Context of Life
Skills Environments
 Ecological
assessment
 Situational assessment
 Functional assessment or functional
evaluation
Ecological Assessment
 Life
skills ecological assessment
includes task analyses and environmental expectations or demands of
the life skills environments
 Involves questions such as: Is ____
asked/required to ____? Are there
strict standards for performance of
___? Is supervision required? Under
what kinds of conditions are the tasks
Functional Assessment: A
Definition
A functional evaluation or assessment
process is one that is an organized
approach to determining the interests,
needs, preferences, and abilities that an
individual student has in the domains of
daily living skills, and occupational/
employability skills.
Functional Assessment
A functional assessment can use both
formal and informal assessment
procedures to provide a basis for planning
and action.
Situational Assessment
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1.
2.
3.
Advantages:
Permits data collection on a variety of
behaviors
Is highly authentic assessment
Permits assessment to occur in the
context of learning, working, social, or
leisure situations in the home, school, or
community
Situational Assessment

4.
5.
Advantages, cont’d.:
Is more motivating for students than
tests, surveys, interviews, etc.
May be ongoing for a period of time and
increases reliability of assessment data
Situational Assessment

1.
2.
3.
Disadvantages:
Difficult to assess some behaviors
because of a lack of control over the
situational environment
Observers/raters/evaluators cannot be in
the situation at all times
Observers/raters/evaluators in the
situation might change the situation by
being there
Situational Assessment

4.
5.
6.
Disadvantages, cont’d.:
Is time-consuming for student and
assessment personnel
Requires coordination with a variety of
persons for it to work
Requires high degree of planning and
monitoring
Life Skills Situational Observation
Assessment Questions
Is the student performing the life skills
task(s) of the selected environment?
 Does the student perform the task(s)
consistently?
 Is the student performing the task(s) at a
satisfactory rate?
 Does the student meet secondary
expectations of the targeted task(s)?
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Life Skills Situational
Assessment Questions, cont’d.
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Does the student know when errors are
made or when the task is unsatisfactory
because of quality, waste of materials, or
performance rate?
Checklist for Analyzing Performance
Problems (Mager & Pipe (1997)
 What
is the performance
discrepancy?
 Why is there said to be a problem?
 What is the actual performance at
issue?
 What is the desired performance?
Checklist for Analyzing Performance
Problems (Mager & Pipe (1997), cont’d.
 Is
it worth pursuing?
 What would happen if we left it
alone?
 Are our expectations reasonable?
 What are the consequences
caused by the discrepancy?
Checklist for Analyzing Performance
Problems (Mager & Pipe (1997)

Can we fix it?
 Do the non-performers know what is
expected of them?
 Can the non-performers describe
desired performance and expectations?
 Are there obvious obstacles to
performance?
 Do the non-performers get feedback on
how they are doing?
Checklist for Analyzing Performance
Problems (Mager & Pipe (1997)

Is desired performance punishing?
 What are the consequences of
performing as desired?
 Is performance actually punishing or
perceived as punishing?
Checklist for Analyzing Performance
Problems (Mager & Pipe (1997)

Is undesired performance rewarding?
 What rewards, prestige, status, or
comfort support the present way of
doing things?
 Does misbehaving or “goofing off” get
more attention than doing it right?
Checklist for Analyzing Performance
Problems (Mager & Pipe (1997)

Are there any consequences at all?
 Does desired performance lead to
consequences that the task performer
sees as favorable?
 Does non-performance lead to
consequences that the task performer
sees as unfavorable?
Checklist for Analyzing Performance
Problems (Mager & Pipe (1997)
Is it a skill deficiency?
 Could the task performer do it in the past?
 Is the skill used often enough to maintain
proficiency?
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Checklist for Analyzing Performance
Problems (Mager & Pipe (1997)
Can the task be modified?
 Can we provide some type of
performance aid?
 Can we redesign the environment or
provide other physical help?
 Can we transfer part of the job to
someone else or arrange a changing of
jobs?
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