AND
ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION
Report Date: December 7, 2012
Child Name: / XXXX XXXXDate of Birth: / March 24, 2009
Age: / 3 years, 8 months
Date of Classroom Observation: / October 29 – December 7, 2012
Parents’ Names: / XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Address:
Evaluation Team Members: / XXXXXXXXXXX, M.A., CCC-SLP XXXXXXXXXXX, M.O.T., OTR/L
XXXXXXXXXXX, M.Ed.
Primary Language of Student:
Primary Language in the Home: / XXXXXXXXXXX, Ed.S.
XXX
XXX
Sources of Information:
· Assessment, Evaluation, and Programming System for Children, Second Edition (AEPS)
· AEPS Family Report Interview Form
· Child and Family Information Questionnaire
· Classroom Observation at Leawood Elementary
Reason for Referral:
The Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning – Fourth Edition (DIAL-4) was administered to XXXX on October 15, 2012. The DIAL-4 is an individually administered developmental screening test designed to identify young children in need of further diagnostic assessment. DIAL-4 items assess developmental skills that are the foundation for academic learning in the areas of motor, concepts, language, self-help, and social. XXXX’s screening results indicated further assessment was needed in the Motor, Language, Concepts areas and his Total Score was in the Potential Delay range. In addition, concerns were noted regarding his speech articulation skills. As a result, the screening team recommended further assessment to gather more specific information about XXXX’s overall development.
INITIAL EVALUATION DATA SUMMARY
Record Review: XXXX lives at home with his mother and his paternal grandparents. On the Child and Family History Questionnaire XXXX, XXXX’s mother, indicated XXXX was born full term at 40 weeks gestation and he weighed 8 pounds 8 ounces. No special care was required post-delivery. As an infant, XXXX was diagnosed with torticollis. Otherwise, he has been generally healthy during the first three years of life. XXXX’s parent shared concerns regarding XXXX’s communication skills. Specifically, he can be difficult to understand and he may become frustrated when others do not understand his communicative intent. XXXX’s parent described XXXX as “hyper” and indicated he tends to play rough with other children.
Interview:
XXX’s parent, indicated XXXX loves to be around people. He cares about others and wants people to be happy. Their main concern is with XXXX’s overall development. They want him to be on-track in all areas and will do whatever XXXX needs to ensure that is the case. In addition, XXXX’s behavior (aggressiveness, impulsivity, non-compliance) and communication (speaking, listening, answering questions) are the main challenges to being able to successfully manage XXXX both at home and daycare. XXXX’s grandparent indicated he believes XXXX will do best in a consistent, structured environment. They are hopeful XXXX will be able to continue to attend preschool and receive support services if he is eligible.
Observation:
Arrival / Dismissal:
XXXX arrives at school on the bus. Though he is able to independently ambulate to/from the classroom, he requires adult close proximity and his hand held by another student to stay with the group. When he brings his belongings, he is typically able to manage them by placing them on his coat hook, access his folder and place it in the appropriate spot. His is observed to zip a threaded zipper, take off his coat and unfasten most fasteners. When greeted by a familiar adult, XXXX typically responds to the greeting by smiling and saying, “hi.” Children XXXX’s age typically establish eye contact with to gain joint attention with others, initiate and respond to greeting and departure phrases, and ambulate independently between environments with close supervision and/or hand holding.
Bathroom:
Given verbal cues from an adult to address related behavioral concerns, XXXX is able to follow the basic toileting and hand washing routines. On occasion, he needs to change clothes after using the toilet. Usually, these accidents occur when he doesn’t get his pants down far enough before using the toilet. During these clothing changes, XXXX is noted to independently take off long pants/elastic-waisted jeans and shoes; then put on clean clothes/shoes. Across the school day, XXXX indicates when he needs to go the bathroom and is typically able to take care of these routines at the same rate as his same-aged peers.
Circle:
XXXX sits in a cube chair at large group (circle time) activities near the teacher. He benefits from the use of an individualized positive reinforcement system to increase his on-task behavior and safe choices while in close proximity to his peers. He requires the use of visuals depicting expected actions such as sit, stand up, give, etc. XXXX appears to prefer music and movement activities at this routine. He is able to choose a role and participate in routine intraverbal responses to songs and familiar stories. When in the role of the “helper” of the day, XXXX appears to enjoy making choices for the group such as the order of the songs, how we will move to transition, etc. He is noted to appear proud when he’s “caught” sitting in his space and demonstrating the ability to be “ready” for group routines. Children XXXX’s age are typically able to participate within music/movement, story and interactive learning in a large group for 10-15 minutes with no more than 1 individual cue attending to/managing his behavior.
Small Group:
During cutting activities, XXXX places Fiskar (self-opening) school scissors in his right hand with a “thumb down” presentation. He requires multiple adult cues (modeling, verbal, physical hand placement, hand-over-hand, etc.) to snip 1-2 inch lines. He is not yet observed to independently place scissors correctly in his hand or cut in a forward motion to cut paper in half. Same age peers are typically able to cut along shapes with straight lines while attending the line. During drawing activities, XXXX utilizes a right-handed functional grasp (tripod or 4-finger). He has demonstrated the ability to imitate horizontal and vertical lines, and copied drawing a face on one occasion. However, XXXX often refuses to participate in drawing/cutting activities (says “no!” turns away, tries to leave the area, etc.). XXXX has not yet demonstrated the ability to draw shapes such as circles, crosses, or squares consistently, and he does not yet copy any letters of his name. Same age peers are able to draw simple pictures incorporating shapes and are beginning to copy letters in their name.
During structured small group games, XXXX requires cues to remain with the group and to take a turn or exchange with materials with peers. He is able to match 8/14 colors when presented with one color at a time, and is able to match 9/12 common pictures of animals/objects to play a bingo game. He correctly labels the colors blue and black and uses number words when asked to count, however, he is not yet able to count items meaningfully or count by rote in sequence. Children XXXX’s age are typically able to label 8 or more common colors, match/sort and categorize items by two or more attributes, and count 5 or more objects.
Play/Centers:
XXXX appears to prefer active, self-directed play at school. He’s observed to use his strong imaginary play skills to interact with others on his preferred topics. He likes to pretend to be the driver of the truck on the playground, and “buckles” each of the truck passengers in their seats before turning the key and “driving.” When playing with the doll house and figures, he is noted to imitate activities of daily living using the figures such as cooking a meal and giving directions when in the role of the “father.” XXXX preferred to explore building, blocks and dramatic play to art or games during the center time routine.
Across all activities, XXXX often experiences difficulties taking turns, solving simple problems and following adult directions for safety. This limits his ability to access learning activities with his same age peers. During the evaluation, he was noted to hit, kick, slap, bite, throw objects, spit, and elope while in the school environment and to need assistance solving a problem within classroom and school expectations for safety. Additionally, XXXX was not consistently observed to follow one or two step directions from an adult to ensure his safety or the safety of others within his environment. Though improved behavior has been noted during the evaluation period, XXXX requires a structured, positive behavioral support system to increase his successful participation and access learning. Typically developing children XXXX’s age are able to follow up to three step directions and demonstrate the ability to remain with a group for personal safety and the safety of others.
Snack:
XXXX readily accesses a variety of containers and packages to serve himself snack at school. He often has second and third helpings of food, and appears to like a variety of foods and textures. He is able to pour water from a child-sized pitcher and on most days, drinks more than one cup of water. He’s observed to prefer having the snack basket and water pitcher closest to him at the table and to need encouragement to share them with others at the table. He appears to like helping during this routine by passing out items to others. He’s noted to overstuff his mouth on most days, taking in additional food before swallowing and clearing his mouth first. He benefits from cues to slow down and reassurance he can have more if he’s hungry/if others take a serving too. Typically, children XXXX’s age are able to manage food intake and take turns passing items to access food/drink to meet their own physical needs.
Outside/Motor Group:
XXXX currently demonstrates age appropriate gross motor skills. He is able to jump in a forward motion, run while avoiding obstacles in his environment, and climb playground equipment independently. He is able to kick and throw a ball at a target, and is beginning to catch and bounce a large playground ball. During motor group activities, XXXX needs frequent verbal and physical prompts to remain with the group and follow directions.
Transitions:
During transitions and across the school day, XXXX benefits from close adult proximity and clear expectations. When presented with frequent, positive feedback (visuals/verbal/item he's working for) to remain with the group and to remainin his own space, XXXX is more
likely to be successful. Wait time during transitions is another challenging time for XXXX. He benefits from opportunities to "help" by carrying/holding materials, performing a "special job" as well as strategicplacement in the line (at the beginning or end) with his hand held by an adult or trained peer model.
Speech/Language:
Based on a conversational language sample, XXXX has a Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) of 3.69, which is appropriate for his age. A child XXXX’s age is predicted to have an MLU in the range of 3.21-4.97. XXXX has been observed to use words to comment (e.g., “I got a ball.”), obtain information (e.g., “We play that?”), request (e.g., “Can you hold it?”), direct (e.g., “Put the ball on that book.”), and protest (e.g., “My airplane!”). XXXX asks yes/no questions (e.g., “Can you play this?”), and “what” questions (e.g., “What is it?”).
XXXX’s skills are emerging in his use of the “to be” verb (e.g., is, am, are), the present progressive –ing (e.g., “trying”), regular plural nouns (e.g., “friends.”), pronouns (e.g., I, you, me, my, he, we, yours), verbs (e.g., go, throw, hold, move, put, come, take, get, play), adjectives (e.g., black, heavy), prepositions (e.g., in, on), conjunctions (e.g., and), and articles (e.g., a, the).
XXXX is having difficulty answering wh-questions (i.e., what, what doing, where). For example, when XXXX was presented with common pictures and asked “what” questions that required a label (e.g., duck, bunny), he mislabeled these items. When XXXX was asked, “What are you doing?” while playing, he always answered these questions beginning with “I’m trying” (e.g., “I’m trying take my car.”). XXXX primarily used gestures and gave non-specific answers to “where” questions (e.g., “Move over there.”) instead of using more specific preposition words (e.g., on, under). Same age peers are able to answer what, what doing, and where questions.
XXXX has been observed to initiate interactions with peers in the classroom; however, the majority of his attempts are directives rather than requests. For example, when XXXX wanted a peer to ride in the play car with him on the playground he said, “Get in my car right now!” in a harsh tone instead of asking the peer if they wanted to ride in the car (e.g., "Want to ride in the car?”). It has also been observed that XXXX has difficulty if a peer does not respond the way he wants them to respond. For example, when XXXX wanted a peer to get in the back of the play car on the playground and they didn’t want to go in the back, XXXX raised his voice at the peer saying “No, boy!” and pulled him to the back of the car. XXXX has also been observed to hoard toys and he will not relinquish the toys if a peer requests one of the toys. For example, XXXX took all of the toy cars and put them under an object. When a peer asked him for a car he said, “No!” and would not share one of the cars.
Based on a speech screening and speech sample, XXXX’s speech articulation skills are age-appropriate at this time.
Formal/informal Tests: