Goals & Outcomes of
Instruction
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Child engagement.
Growth and change of whole child
Social competence and prosocial
behavior.
Use of skills in daily functioning.
Assist children in spending their
lives with their families in their
communities.
Prevent additional problems or
disabilities.
Foundational Assumptions of
Special Education Instruction
Development is influenced by
student’s biological status, health
status, & history.
 Development and learning are
influenced by experience.
 Instruction will vary in focus on:
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biological functioning (surgery, diet,
medication)
ecological variables (family support)
child-environment (curricular
strategies)
Program Models:
0 to 3
Center-based: Families bring their infant
or toddler to a program at an agency
setting where appropriate services are
provided by professionals and
paraprofessionals. Intervention sessions
are scheduled either on an individual
basis or in small groups.
Home-based: Individualized to meet the
child's needs with whatever resources
are available in the home.
Regular child-care settings:
”Normalized" settings which provide
opportunities for integration.
Program Models:
Preschool
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Integrated preschool settings:
”Normalized" settings which provide
opportunities for integration; special
education teacher is either full-time
staff member or a consultant to the early
childhood educator
Segregated preschool settings: this is
usual for children from 3 to 5 because
most public school systems don't
provide services for typical kids at this
age.
Head Start: 10% of children have
disabilities; but very few children with
severe/profound MR are served.
Program Models:
School Aged
Regular classroom with
supportive services
 Resource Room Placement:
“pull-out”
 Special Class Placement
 Special Day School Placement
 Homebound Programs
 Other Domiciled Settings
 Residential Settings
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Team Models
Multidisciplinary: Professionals work independently
evaluating and serving the client in their own domains.
Each applies the expertise and techniques of his or her
discipline in isolation of what professionals in other
disciplines are doing concurrently with a child or parent.
Little or no interaction or ongoing communication occurs
among professionals dealing with the same client.
Interdisciplinary: Professionals form various disciplines
work together cooperatively in both planning and
delivering services to the child or parent. Emphasis is
upon teamwork and interaction among team members,
who help and rely upon each other to provide wellcoordinated, integrated services for he individual,
although each discipline ultimately delivers the service in
its own domain.
Transdisciplinary: Professionals from various disciplines
work together cooperatively by educating one another in
the skills and practice of their disciplines so that one team
member can act as the single agent for carrying out
services with a designated child or parent.
The IEP/IFSP Process
Critical Components:
 present levels of functioning across
domains
 family resources, priorities, and concerns
related to child development
 expected intervention outcomes,
including criteria, procedures, and
timelines
 description of the specific services
needed to meet the child/family needs
 environments in which services will be
provided
 dates for initiation & duration of services
 name of service coordinator
 procedures for transition
Types of Assessments…
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Standardized tests: Tests which are uniform in
administration and scoring; have been normed
on a representative sample of individuals for
whom the test is designed.
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Norm referenced measures: Child’s
performance is compared with that of other
children.
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Criterion referenced measures: Child’s
performance is compared with a specified level
or standard of achievement.
e.g. Curriculum based measures:
assess performance along a
continuum of objectives, especially
within a developmentally
sequenced curriculum
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Systematic Observations: observations by
knowledgeable persons
What are the questions you should ask
when choosing an assessment
instrument?
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What is the purpose of the assessment?
Measure
Norm based
Curriculum based
Judgment based
Ecological
Systematic
Observation
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Purpose of Measure
Determine degree of child’s developmental impairment
through comparison
Identify curricular objectives, offer adaptations, and monitor
child progress/program impact
Include parent and professional perceptions of child status
and progress
Characterize the social and physical qualities of the child’s
environment
Gather specific information about target behaviors
Is the assessment valid?
Is the assessment reliable?
Is this assessment reliable and valid given the
characteristics of the child being tested?
The Assessment Process
Identification: process of locating infants and
toddlers and their families who might be eligible for
early intervention.
Screening: The process of identifying those children
in need of further in-depth assessment.
In-depth assessment for diagnosis and
determination of eligibility: Comprehensive
assessment used to verify the presence of
conditions that may qualify a child for early
intervention/ECSE services.
Monitoring of child progress during intervention:
According to the IEP/IFSP there will be ongoing
monitoring of services.
Population Tracking: As part of Part C services,
states are required to have a system for compiling
data on the # of infants in need of serves; the
number served, and the types of services provided
Assessment for Program Planning
and Service Delivery
Procedures used by the assessment team to:
a) determine the individual’s current
level of functioning
b) clarify strengths and needs
c) identify special services needed by the
student
d) identify intervention techniques that
can be incorporated into the IEP
e) revise these plans as necessary
Recommended Assessment
Practices
a) use multiple perspectives
b) use multiple techniques
c) assess on multiple occasions
d) assess the environment
e) use authentic item content
f) make collaborative decisions
g) assess environment
Linking Assessment &
Intervention
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functional rather than categorical
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developmental rather than
psychometric
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criterion referenced rather than normreferenced
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task and process specific
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longitudinal instead of “one-time”
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planning purposes rather than
diagnostic purposes
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ecological rather than child-only view
Assessments “Types” that Link to
Intervention
Criterion Referenced Assessments:
compares a child’s performance with a
specified level or standard of
achievement; Curriculum-based
assessments are a sub-set
Participant Interviews: ask professionals
or caregivers to record their perceptions
of the child’s functioning.
Systematic Observations: involves
structured observation and recording of
behavior and yields quantifiable data
Anecdotal Recordings: a written
description of a child’s behavior in a
particular situation/setting/interaction
Classroom-based: in the environment in
which instruction will occur
Dimensions of Authentic
Assessment
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Performance dimension: Emphasizes a student's active
generation of a response and highlights that the responses
observable.
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Authentic dimension: Emphasizes the real life nature of a task
and the natural context in which the assessment occurs or the
observational data are gathered. Authenticity is important
because:
 The more realistic or natural the task, the greater the
motivation to the child and the more applicable the task to
everyday events and situations
 Authentic tasks and circumstances promote the importance
of a competency-based approach to the education of young
children with special needs and the focus the assessment
across all disciplines on a complex sets of skills and
processes and the 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.
Instructional linkage dimension: Emphasizes the extent to
which the assessment tasks are aligned with curriculum
outcomes.
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Individualized
Family Service Plan (IFSP)
Guiding Principles:
1. Family-centered collaboration is basic to
the process
2. The natural environment of the child and
the family should be the environment for
the development and implementation of the
IFSP
3. The process is critical
Critical Components
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present levels of functioning across domains
family resources, priorities, and concerns
related to child development
expected intervention outcomes, including
criteria, procedures, and timelines
description of the specific services needed to
meet the child/family needs
environments in which services will be
provided
dates for initiation & duration of services
name of service coordinator
procedures for transition
Assessment
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collecting information
– tests
– observations
– interviews
– contexts:
 unstructured play
 structured play
 peer interaction
 caregiver-child interaction
 motor play
 meal-time
Information regarding:
– diagnosis and eligibility
– intervention & placement
– ongoing assessment
Inclusion Definitions
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Mainstreaming: initially referred to
the reentry of children with mild
disabilities into regular education
programs.
Integration: Early efforts to
combine young children who were
disabled and nondisabled into a
single program.
Inclusion: Rather than separating
students on the basis of disability,
students should simply be included,
by right, in the opportunities and
responsibilities of public schooling
Necessary for Successful
Inclusion
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attitude
selection of appropriate setting
training
vigilance
access to specialists
collaborative planning, decision
making, and service delivery
appropriate materials and equipment
activity based curricula
active promotion of interaction
between nondisabled and disabled
students
Why Neither 0% nor 100% Works
- Brown, et al.
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Best models are in regular education
more social opportunities in regular education
regular education is chronologically appropriate
integration benefits all students
better to be an insider who goes out than an
outsider who goes in
therapies generalize better when applied in
regular classrooms
individualized, systematic, comprehensive, and
long-term instruction in a wide array of
environments must be a critical component of an
educational plan
direct instruction in one-on-one environments is
necessary
Specialization not available in general education
classroom is necessary for mastery of some
subjects
Factors to Consider When
Making Placement Decisions
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The number of skills that need to be
mastered
How much abstract learning is possible by
the student? How much concrete
instruction occurs in the class?
How many trials does the student
generally need for skill acquisition?
How much drill & practice will the
student need for mastery?
What activities will be necessary for
generalization?
What is the range of instruction for the
class?
Options when Home-base is
General Education
Extend the curriculum
downward
 Generate alternative activities
 provide additional instruction in
other environments
 provide primary instruction in
other activities
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Individual Considerations
Chronological age
 Related services
 Number of environments
 Personnel
 Social Relationships
 Student/Family priorities
 Probability of skill acquisition
 Functionality
 Preparation for future
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Effective Use of Human
Resources...
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Outline all students’ needs for
support during activities
Outline students’ daily schedule
Outline adults’ daily schedule,
including responsibilities during
individual lessons
Look for other resources:
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volunteers
classmates
students
parents
Handouts to Download
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Depending on how your individual
computer and web browser works,
either:
(a) click on the highlighted text to open the
handouts
(b) insert the web address below on the
“location” line of your web browser
 Inclusion Observation Checklist:
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http://www.circleofinclusion.org/materials/prep.pdf
Parent Questionnaire &
Environmental Checklist:
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http://www.circleofinclusion.org/materials/supportingchildre
n.pdf
** The handouts are in Adobe Acrobat Format. If you do not
have that software program, the UIC computers do or you
can download it for free. Instructions are on the Circle of
Inclusion Web Page.
Additional References
Bagnato, S. J., Neisworth, J. T., & Munson, S. M. (1997). Linking assessment and
early intervention: An authentic curriculum-based approach. Baltimore, MD:
Brookes.
Bredekamp, S. Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs
serving children from birth through age 8. Washington, DC: National
Association for the Education of Young Children.
Bricker, D. (1995). The challenge of inclusion. Journal of Early Intervention, 19,
179-194.
Brown, L., Schwarz, P., Udvari-Solner, A., Kampschroer, E.F., Johnson, F.,
Jorgenson, J. & Gruenewald, L. (1991). How much time should students
with severe intellectual disabilities spend in regular education classrooms and
elsewhere? Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 16,
39-47.
Fuchs, D., & Fuchs, L. (1994). Inclusive education and the radicalization of
special education reform. Exceptional Children, 60, 294-309.
Henley, M., Ramsey, R. S., & Algozzine, R. F. (1996). Characteristics of and
strategies for teaching students with mild disabilities. Boston, MA: Allyn and
Bacon.
Karp, Joan M. (1996). Assessing Environments. In M. McLean, D.B. Baily, &
M. Wolery (Eds.), Assessing infants and preschoolers with special needs, (pp.
234-267). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Merrill.
Lutzker, J. R., & Campbell, R. (1994). Ecobehavioral family intervention in
developmental disabilities. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks Cole Publishing.
Mowder, B. A. (1997). Family dynamics. In A. H. Widerstrom, B. A. Mowder, &
S. R. Sandall, (Eds.), Infant development and risk: An introduction, (pp. 125154). Baltimore, MD: Brookes.
National Association for the Education of Young children (NAEYC); Division for
Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children (DEC/CEC), &
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). (1996).
Guidelines for preparation of early childhood professionals. Washington, DC:
NAEYC.