Q1: Why do we need more than just assessment results for eligibility determination and instructional planning?

<Jen Brown>
  
Determining a child’s eligibility for supports and services and subsequent development of an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) or Individualized Education Program (IEP) requires the use of assessment tools that assist in identifying a child’s current levels of functioning. However, assessment tools only provide a portion of the information necessary to paint the picture of the whole child. Assessments are snapshots in time: one isolated moment and one example of a child’s performance and use of skills. In addition, many assessment tools contain a heavy emphasis on measurement of discrete skills rather than a method for capturing a more global picture of the child’s developmental profile, including both strengths and opportunities for growth. In order to expand the view of the child and his/her abilities, additional sources of information are required and include, at a minimum: information from the parent (including cultural norms and expectations); health and medical information; and observations of the child. Given this (potentially) diverse information, it is essential that teams of professionals use clinical reasoning to support and/or clarify the results from the assessment tools to better understand the context of the child’s experiences, family, culture, and community and to support decisions regarding eligibility and instructional planning. The process of using clinical reasoning to support team decisions actually begins with the assessment tool(s) themselves. The team must have a clear understanding of what each tool is designed to measure and how, or if, it allows for adaptations as needed. Teams will use clinical reasoning to determine what additional information is necessary in order to create a clearer developmental picture of the child. An example of this could be the use of a standardized assessment tool that measures fine motor skills but does not allow for the adaptations necessary for a child with a visual impairment. It is possible that, in terms of overall use of fingers and hands in a functional manner, the child performs well but the results of the tool indicate that the child has a significant delay because she cannot stack blocks and imitate drawings (both visually based tasks). Knowing this, the team must then consider whether or not another tool is an acceptable measure and/or how to clarify the results from the tool so that the child’s fine motor skills are described in a more accurate manner.