FOUNDATION COURSE ON EDUCATION OF CHILDREN WITH LEARNING

DISABILITIES

Block

2
Identification and Screening

Unit 1
Assessment- Need, Scope and Definition

Unit 2
Types of Assessment Formal and Informal

2.2.1 Formal Tests

22.2 Tools and Methods (checklists, questionnaire and rating scales)

Unit 3
Curricular Based Assessment (CBA)

Unit 4
Assessment of academic skills (reading, writing, mathematics)
2.4.1 Reading
2.4.2 Writing
2.4.3 - Mathematics

Unit 5
Referrals and Interpretation of Reports
Block Introduction
Dear Colleague,

Assessment is an act of acquiring and analyzing information about students for a purpose.
In the field of special education it serves the purpose of identifying and diagnosing the
special educational needs and then informs planning for further action. It forms an
integral part of the process of providing support and educational wherewithal. This
information includes knowledge about an individuals personal attributes, cognitive
abilities, environmental status, academic achievement, health or social competence.
The following block will help the students in gaining insight into identification of
children with learning disabilities and screening them in a mainstream class. The block is
organized in a way to help students understand how assessment is done in the individual
areas of reading, writing and mathematics. It will familiarize the students with the formal
assessment tools and methods used by psychologists in order to diagnose students with
learning disabilities. It will also outline the effective use and interpretation of curriculum
based assessment. The final section of the block will acquaint the students with the
procedures for further referral and interpretation of reports.

Objectives
On completion of this Block the students will
Define assessment
Differentiate between test and evaluation,
Identify the formal tests used for assessment
Categorize the informal tools and methods used for screening
Construct and devise their own screening methods and tools
Interpret, evaluate and prepare an appropriate Curriculum based approach to
assessment
Describe the role of other professionals
Learn to interpret formal reports
Assessment Need, Scope and Unit
Definition 1
Ruchika Sachdev

Introduction
In the previous block we have defined what a learning disability is and we now know that
the children diagnosed with learning disabilities are found in regular, mainstream schools
and do not stand out like children with some other disabilities would. Then how do we
discover a child who has a learning disability? There is a process through which this
becomes obvious and then possible. This is the process of identification and screening.
Identification occurs when there is a realization by the teachers and parents that a
particular child is not able to cope with the curricular and academic demands of the grade
in which he/she is placed. This happens over a consistent period of observations and
failing at tests and inability to meet goals set for the class. When Teachers and parents
share their concern, teachers will often administer a short screening measure that will
indicate if more detailed and comprehensive assessment is required.
Screening is the first step in the assessment process. It is a fast, efficient way to identify
students who may have disabilities and should undergo further testing. It quickly
establishes for the assessor that the student may require the services of a professional who
will then be able to administer the necessary measures to either diagnose or rule out the
presence of a disability. Screening tools are often easy to administer and classroom
teachers can be trained to use these effectively to collect the initial impressions and
information.
Screening often entails surveying all students in order to identify those that may not be
achieving the expected standards. There may be two ways in which screening may be
conducted- 1) all students may be given very short tests to screen those that have
difficulty. Or, 2) teachers gather information on the basis of all their observations and
classroom performance and make a referral for further testing on the basis. In the latter
case the teachers have had prior training in identification.
Screening of students may result in either the conclusion that there may be no
requirement of further investigation but adjustment of teaching or it may lead to a referral
for further, more comprehensive assessment.
What is assessment? Why do we assess? How do we assess? These are some of the most
important questions that need to be asked to develop an understanding of learning
disabilities. When we read about the various characteristics of children with Learning
Disabilities surely they come from some point of reference. This point of reference is
developed through assessments and testing. In this unit we will learn all about
assessment- how it is defined. How it is different from evaluation and testing and what is
the scope of assessment.

Learning outcomes
At the end of the unit you will be able to:

Define assessment
State the need for assessment,
Discuss the scope of assessment
Differentiate between test, assessment & evaluation

Testing, Evaluation and Assessment

There is a general tendency of teachers to use the words tests and assessments inter-
changeably. It also seems that they are one and the same thing. Tests are what we all are
used to taking from time to time. Tests usually occur at the end of a unit when a teacher
wants to find out if the topic that she has taught has been understood by the student or not.
Tests may be oral or written but they end up in giving us information through the medium
of marks or grades, which are based on certain norms or standards.
For example, a teacher may complete teaching a topic of addition and may give the
following test:

542+ 383= 146 721 812

+ 210 +49 + 414
__________ ______ _______

Once the students complete the test, they are marked on this and then given marks or a
grade, which is shared with the student and the parent with the remark that the topic of
addition has been understood well or not understood well.
Measurement or testing provides quantitative data. It is the numeric description of a
characteristic. It tells us how much, how often, or how well, by providing scores, ranks,
or ratings. Measurement or tests allow the teacher or psychologists to compare the
performance of one child against another or to measure up against norms. Measurement
is done through testing which is the administration of specifically designed and often
standardized educational and psychological measures of behaviours.
Individual tests often form a part of a larger battery of tests- some of these tests that
teachers may be familiar with include: test of Calculation from the Woodcock-Johnson,
Tests of Reading Comprehension, SAT or the Scholastic Aptitude Test.

Evaluation
At the core of evaluation is judgment. It in involves making decisions based on values.
Evaluation often involves comparing information to a criteria and then making judgments.
Educational evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of a student,
programme or provisions. It is a systematic collection and analysis of data to make
decisions. Usually it involves testing and then using the test results to decide about the
efficacy of a programme or in the case of an individual student the next steps.
For example if the target for a student has been that he/she will be able to read three letter
words by using phonological processing and the test results show that the student is still
not able to read those words. The resulting evaluation may lead to the conclusion that
either the strategies being used for the particular student are not effective so they may
need to change.

Assessment
Though often they are a part of the same process it is important to distinguish between
screening, evaluation and assessment.
Screening (including developmental and health screening) includes activities to
identify children who may need further evaluation in order to determine the existence of a
delay in development or a particular disability. Evaluation is used to determine the
existence of a delay or disability, to identify the childs strengths and needs in all areas of
development. Assessment is used to determine the individual childs present level of
performance and early intervention or educational needs
[Boyle et al, 2011]
Assessment is the process by which information is gathered about a students learning. It
is broader than testing and measurement because it includes all kinds of ways to observe
and sample a students skills, knowledge and abilities. It is a process that is used in
forming judgments about the student and making decisions based on all the information
that has been collected through the various sources and means. In the field of special
education it also allows the assessor to classify the student according to the criteria set
out for specific disabilities.
Assessment is a broader process, which includes testing and adds an evaluative element
to the process. Assessment is usually a much longer process than testing since it may
include a battery or series of tests, observations, interviews, checklists and rubrics.
Assessment is the act of acquiring and analyzing information about students for some
stated purpose, usually for diagnosing specific problems and for planning instructional
programmes. This information includes knowledge about an individuals personal
attributes, cognitive abilities, environmental status, academic achievement, health, or
social competence and is acquired by a variety of techniques of which testing,
observation, interviews, record reviews and analytic teaching are the most frequently
used.
[Donald D.Hammill, 1987]
Assessment is a combination of test, observation, interview, or other strategy used to
measure ability, achievement, or mastery in a specific subject against a set of standards or
against others performance. In special education, assessment also refers to data and
information gathered to ascertain a students aptitudes, areas of need, eligibility and
recommendations for programs and services.

Assessment involves the gathering and analysis of information about student

performance and is designed to inform practice. It identifies what students know,
understand, can do, and feel at different stages in the learning process. Students and
teachers should be actively engaged in assessing the students progress as part of the
development of their wider critical-thinking and self-assessment skills.
[MTPYPH, 2007]

Before Assessing
Certain protocol and cautions must be exercised before undertaking an assessment.
The assessor must obtain parental consent before administering any kind of
assessment.
The assessment must make allowances for the students native language. If the
student is not fluent in English then a translator may be used or the test may be
translated into the first language.
The results must be kept confidential and may be shared only after the parents
have given consent and only for the sake of helping a child. The test results must
never be used against a child, i.e. a test report must never become the basis of
denying the childs basic right to inclusion in a regular school.
 The tests and assessment procedures used should not have any racial or cultural
bias.

Assessment in the mainstream is done for many purposes. Usually it is done through tests
and paper pencil tasks to mark student achievement and for the purpose of promotion to
the next grade or class. It is also used to place the student in a class of students in terms
of ranks and scores.
In the general mainstream classroom Assessment is done for the following reasons:
To gain insight into the skills and knowledge acquired by the students- on
completion of assessment procedures the teachers as well the students know
exactly much knowledge and skills the students have acquired over the stipulated
time set before the assessment was conducted.
Assessments are also conducted in order to find out how much the students
have learnt. The taking of tests or series of tests inform the teachers about the
acquisition of the concepts that were being taught in class or through a programme.
For example: If a teacher has taught addition with carry over then the tests or
assessment will reveal if the student has learned these.
Assessments help to establish previous knowledge. This is important to do at the
beginning of a topic as this is a way to gauge how much do the students already
know about the topic which will be done in class. Knowing about this will help the
teachers in differentiation and in avoiding pitching the lesson either too high or too
low. When the students do not have prior knowledge even the best planned lessons
and topics can fall flat. Therefore an assessment at the beginning saves time in
terms of teacher not repeating what is already known to the students and in
spending more time on those concepts that are likely to prove more difficult to
understand.
Assessment helps to place a child developmentally. When a teacher assess
appropriately measuring the students against developmental norms, then it
becomes easier to place the child accurately in the developmental continuum. This
helps in ensuring that the scope and sequence of the skills that the students are
expected to learn is maintained. For example an assessment of mathematical skills
along the scope and sequence will reveal if the child has all the relevant skills in
place to move on to the next topic or not. In order to add single digits a child
should be able do one-to-one correspondence, count backwards and forwards and
skip count.
Assessments are used for the diagnosis of Special Educational Needs. A
comprehensive test battery is used to identify and diagnose those children who
have special educational needs. There are specific tests that are administered to
 children in order to diagnose strengths, weaknesses, areas of deficits and match
specific criteria for identifying disabilities.

Assessments are often used to help teachers sort out the higher order
concepts from those that are easily acquired. Teachers are able to use and
compare the performance of students to pick out those concepts which are easily
acquired by all students from those that are of the higher order and that some
students require help with and more practice of. For example: while teaching of
nouns in grammar, the concept of what nouns are might be easy for most children
to understand as would be the concept of proper and common nouns; while
understanding abstract nouns would be higher order concept. An assessment would
generally reveal that more children would score less on a particular concept if it is
a higher order concept.
Assessments are used to inform planning. Teachers use information from an
assessment in order to help their planning of lessons. Teachers can discover which
are the topics that need to be reviewed and which ones may be skipped.
Assessments are used to judge the efficacy of the teaching strategies. More and
more teachers are beginning to use strategies that are varied and address all
learning styles in a classroom. Assessments help in judging which ones work and
which dont. for example a teacher may try using the hand-on approach to teach a
topic like electricity. A test taken after the lesson might show better results than
she would have achieved with a previous batch when she may have used only the
lecture method to teach the same topic. The results would then indicate that this
was a strategy that worked and can be used again.
Assessments help to establish the need and level of differentiation in class. It is
now being recognized and accepted that all students are not alike and each has
his/her own unique needs and abilities. This has brought into focus the need for
differentiation in a class. Appropriately designed assessments help teachers
discover ways in which differentiation can be done. Differentiation is the practice
of teaching students according to their needs and abilities by building on previous
knowledge and experiences.

Increasingly the attention is shifting to include the many reasons listed below:
1. To screen students to find those who are experiencing more than expected
difficulty in acquiring the skills being taught in the general classroom.
2. To refer for further formal testing those students who are not able to meet the
expected standards consistently. This is done to identify, diagnose and then
perhaps label them according to the criteria.
 3. To obtain information that can be used to plan individual programmes for those
students who are identified as having difficulties in learning.
4. For monitoring student progress by reviewing the achievement through formal
tests, informal observation and curriculum based procedures.

Scope of Assessment
Assessment covers a wide range of cognitive abilities and achievement areas. Through
the process of assessment teachers and assessors are able to obtain information regarding
language skills, verbal ability, intellectual functioning, attention, memory, perceptual
abilities, processing of information and phonemic awareness. There are other tests that
provide information about a childs listening and speaking skills, reading skills, writing
skills and mathematical skills with some tests even providing an insight into the minute
processes that comprise these skills.
Assessment provides information to the parents, students and teachers about areas that
form strengths for the student and those that are areas of deficit and need to be worked
upon. They help in determining the learning styles of the students, which then become the
means of planning instruction that is easy to access.
Along with the above mentioned assessment also covers information about the suitability
of a learning environment, the kind of infrastructure that is present in order to provide the
services that the student with special needs would require, the remedial services that the
school would offer which cover a wide range from in class support to learning resource
rooms within the school set up. Assessment also provides with the kind of services a
student might require from perceptual exercises to various therapies like speech and
occupational therapy to special education with a trained professional.
For a very long time there was confusion regarding the right age for assessment of
learning disabilities. Professionals variously argued that it was impossible to diagnose a
learning disability before the age of 6 years, when the child actually was able to read and
write.
It is now believed that it is possible to detect the possibility of a child having a learning
disability much earlier than it was believed. These children may not be labeled with the
tag of a definite disability but are considered as being at risk of developing or
manifesting the signs of a disability later on. Early Identification is now considered the
norm rather than exceptionality in the identification of those children who may later show
signs of a learning disability. There are a number of reasons for this early identification:
Early Identification leads to early intervention, which is considered essential in
remediation.
 The children have not yet faced academic failure therefore it becomes easier to
work with them as they still retain their motivation to learn.
At that young an age they have not developed the compensatory strategies, which
will later form barriers in the remedial process.
Research has shown that children who received assessment and remedial services
at a younger age were better able to cope with the disability and had a better
prognosis than those who received help later.
Assessment tools have been developed for pre-school children that are especially
sensitive to the concepts and skills that the students should have at that age. Observation
by the parents and teachers are extremely helpful in the identification of at risk children.
There is a range of assessment tools available like checklists, observations, formal tests,
interviews and rating scales.
As the students enter formal schooling and reading and writing skills are introduced,
formal testing takes over and a more assertive diagnosis of a learning disability can be
made. The tests at this stage are specific to the age and formal measures are available that
have been normed on this population. The tests may once again include observations,
informal measures of reading, writing, mathematics, criterion referenced or norm-
referenced tests, interviews with the parents and checklists.
As the students get older there are further assessment measures. All assessment tools test
a range of abilities from language to reading to writing, to mathematics. There may be
specific tests for single abilities- like the Dyslexia Screening Test, which screens out
children with Dyslexia, to those assessing a range of multiple skills and domains like the
Woodcock Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities and Achievement. There are tests that
evaluate the psychological process like attention, perception and memory.

With Assessment becoming such an important aspect of the entire teaching-learning

process and due to its key role in the field of Special Education, indeed in general
education, it is becoming clear that most schools would have an assessment policy in
place.
An assessment policy reflects the schools philosophy and position on assessment. When
schools begin to develop this policy they set in motion a process by which they examine
their own stand in terms of assessment. An assessment policy is usually a written
document that clarifies to the teachers and the larger school community what kind of
assessments will be done. Also mentioned clearly in the policy documents are the
following: who will assess, how often will there be assessments in the school, how will
those assessments be marked and what would be the results used for and how these
results would be communicated to the parents. School policy documents are required to
state clearly what their philosophy about special education is.

Activity 1
Study your schools policy on Assessment and critically examine if it includes the
children with special needs. Write a report on this. Make recommendations based on your
self study and present it to the Principal of your school.

Assessment tools and techniques, whether they are tests or checklists address a range of
skills that form a part of every domain that is being tested. An example of a scope of a
reading test might have the following:
Pre-reading Awareness of print
Awareness that the book has a beginning
and an end
Awareness that the pictures in the book are
related to the text
Awareness that there are characters in a
story
Phonic knowledge Sound-symbol association
Blending of sounds
Analysis of sounds
Deletion, addition, substitution of sounds
Word recognition Recognition of sounds in words
Recognition of C-V-C words
Recognition of sight words
Comprehension Locating information to answer questions
Making inferences in order to answer
questions

This list is only a representative sample of all the skills an assessment might test
pertaining to reading. There are many more sub skills that will go in a checklist like this
one. Similarly the scope of assessment of skills in the other domains is exhaustive and a
thorough assessment tool would cover all. The range of assessment covers all possible
ages and all possible areas within the domain.
Assessment tools and method can cover the entire range of disabilities and can provide
data that is comprehensive and detailed. This is helpful in decision-making and planning
instruction.
Questions for critical reflection
1. Define Assessment. [50 words]
2. Distinguish between Assessment and testing. [100 words]
3. What purpose does Assessment serve in the area of special education? [200 words]

Summary
Assessment is the process by which information is gathered about a student through
various sources. It includes the use of tests in the traditional form, but its purview is much
larger than that of tests. Evaluation involves the making of judgment about a student
while testing usually involves getting numerical information about an individual.
The assessment procedure begins with screening in the regular classroom by the teachers
who are involved in the teaching learning process. A number of short procedures make
up the screening process. The purpose for conducting screening is to see if any child does
have a learning disability and if that child would require a more detained evaluation and
should be referred for a complete assessment.
Assessment has manifold purposes especially in the area of special education. We assess
to gain insight into the strengths and weaknesses of a student in academic terms.
Assessment also helps in arriving at a diagnosis and making decisions regarding the
placement and services to be provided for a child with learning disabilities. In the
classroom, assessment helps in the process of screening and identification of disorders.
Assessment can now be done for children who are preschoolers and considered to be at
risk to adults. Assessment can also be done to isolate the most-minute skill within a
specific domain of learning.
Thus we see that assessment is one of the most important components of the teaching-
learning process. In fact a good teacher is constantly assessing- her students, her
curriculum, her teaching strategies and the students learning.

References
Woolfolk, Anita [2206] Educational Psychology, Ninth edition, Pearson education Inc
Clay, Marie. M. [1985] The early Detection of Reading Difficulties, 3rd Edition,
Athenaeum Press Ltd
Hamill, Donald D. [1987] Assessing the Abilities and Instructional Needs of Students- a
Practical guide for Educators, Psychologists, Speech Pathologists and Diagnosticians.
Pro-ed
Lerner,J,W. (1988) Learning Disabilities- Theories, Diagnosis and Teaching Strategies,
Houghton Miflin Company

Boyle, C.A., Boulet, S., Schieve, L. A., Cohen, R. A., Blumberg, S. J., Yeargin-Allsopp, M.,
Visser, S., Kogan, M. D. (2011). Trends in the prevalence of developmental
disabilities in US children, 1997-2008

International Baccalaureate,[2007] Making the PYP Happen, International

Baccalaureate Organization
Types of Assessment Unit
Ruchika Sachdev
2

Introduction
Assessment of children with learning disabilities is the first essential step towards
remediation and intervention. Now that we know what is assessment the next obvious
questions are whether there are different types of assessments, since there are so many
variables to be tested? Who does these assessments? Since most assessments require
well-honed skills it is a natural thing to assume that these require training and certain
specific qualifications.
Assessment is done through formal as well as informal means. While most people
understand the concept of formal measures of assessment, it would be erroneous to
assume that the informal tests cannot be of help in the assessment process. Professionals,
who are qualified and have been trained specifically for administering those measures,
use the formal assessment measures. There are many formal tests that are commercially
available and they are varied in their nature. Some are broad and general and assess a
wide range of abilities and skills, while others are more specific. Therefore it is very
important to choose the correct tests to administer.
This is where the role that teachers play becomes important. Classroom teachers are
closely associated with their students and over a certain period of time come to know
each one of them extremely well. So how do they contribute to the process of
assessment? It is usually these teachers who do the screening through their informal
measures including classroom tests. They are the ones that observe the students over a
period time and can talk of a pattern of behavior, which is so important in the assessment
process.
Therefore it is appropriate to say that the assessment procedure requires input form both-
informal measures adopted by teachers for screening and tracking the progress of the
student and the formal tests that firmly establish the diagnose and provide the standards
for comparison. Considering the important role that classroom teachers play the question
to ask is- can they be trained to do what they do instinctively? The answer to these
questions is embedded in the following unit.
Learning outcomes
At the end of this unit you will be able to

State the types the assessments

Distinguish between formal and informal tools

Describe the use of the formal and standardized tests

Explain the informal methods of assessment

There are two types of assessments- formal and informal. While formal assessments have
data, which support the conclusions made from the test. These tests are called
standardized tests. These tests have been tried on students of similar age or grade before
and when the conclusions are given there are statistics and data to prove and support the
conclusions. The data is mathematically computed and summarized. Scores such as
percentiles, stanines, or standard scores are mostly commonly given from this type of
assessment. Informal assessments on the other hand, are not data driven but rather
content and performance driven. For example, running records are informal assessments
because they indicate how well a student is reading a specific book. Scores such as 10
correct out of 15, percent of words read correctly, and most rubric scores; are given from
this type of assessment.

Formal assessment
The process of gathering information using standardized, published tests or instruments
in conjunction with specific administration and interpretation procedures, and used to
make general instructional decisions is known as a Formal Assessment. It planned and
usually conducted under controlled situations.
The Formal tools of assessment are those that are standardized measures, which have
been administered to large population in order to provide norms and standards against
which an individuals performance is evaluated. These tests are commercially prepared
instruments used on large groups of individuals. While administering formal tests strict
instructions for the administration procedures are given, as also for the scoring and
interpretation. These tests have a manual that provides all the data to maintain the exact
procedures and to rule out the room for subjectivity.
Standardized tests use similar directions for administering regardless of place, size of
sample or ability. They employ the same standard procedures for scoring and
interpretation.
All tests yield scores that are used for comparisons of two types to interpret scores:
Norm referenced assessment and criterion referenced assessment. The first compares the
test scores to the scores obtained by other people who have taken the same test. The
second compares the test score to a fixed standard or minimum passing score.

Norm reference tests

In these kinds of comparisons, the people who have taken the test provide the norms for
determining the meaning of a given individuals score. A norm can be considered the
typical level of performance for a particular group. By comparing the individuals raw
score [the actual number that is correct] to the norm, we can determine if the score is
above, below or around the average for that group.

Criterion reference tests

In this kind of testing the test scores are compared to a given criteria and not to those of
others.

Differences between the two types of standards can be summed as:

Norm reference tests Criterion reference tests

Cover a wide range of general objectives Measure the mastery of very specific
objectives
Do not point out if the student is ready to Tells a teacher exactly what a student can
move to the next level of work or cant do
Not very helpful in measuring affective and More appropriate for measuring affective
psychomotor learning and psychomotor competencies
Usually more objective as they are based Can be subjective and arbitrary in the
on averages setting up of criteria

Activity 2 Research about any two formal assessments and find out if they have are
norm referenced or criterion referenced.
Why is testing of Intelligence important for identifying children with Learning
Disabilities?
Generic to the definition of Learning Disabilities is the fact that children with Learning
Disabilities have average or above average intelligence. Therefore, it is essential that
some estimation of intelligence should be obtained.
There are three types of assessment tools that are used for the testing for disabilities.
These are
Tests of Intelligence or cognitive abilities
Tests of achievement
Diagnostic tests
Intelligence testing is a method used by Clinical Psychologists to measure a child's
intellectual capabilities in several specific domains. These domains include verbal
comprehension, factual knowledge, abstract reasoning, visual-spatial abilities and short-
term memory. Intellectual assessment is a good indication of a child's academic potential.
The results of an IQ test rank a child against a very large sample of children the same age.
If a child scores in the top 5% for their age group it is reasonable to expect them to be
performing within the top 5% academically.
A. The following are the tests that are used for assessing Intelligence.

Stanford-Binet Intelligence test

The Stanford Binet Intelligence Test is a standardized test that gives a MA IQ and
cognitive abilities in children and adults aged two to 23. Moreover, the Stanford Binet IQ
Test is designed to test intelligence in four areas including verbal reasoning, quantitative
reasoning, abstract and visual reasoning, and short-term memory skills. The Stanford
Binet also scores 15 sub tests including vocabulary, comprehension, verbal absurdities,
pattern analysis, matrices, paper folding and cutting, copying, quantitative, number series,
equation building, memory for sentences, memory for digits, memory for objects, and
bead memory.
All test subjects take an initial vocabulary test, which along with the subject's age,
determines the number and level of subtests to be administered. Total testing time is 45-
90 minutes, depending on the subject's age and the number of subtests given. Raw scores
are based on the number of items answered, and are converted into a standard age score
corresponding to age group, similar to an IQ measure.
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children [WISC]

For children over 6 years: The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition
(WISC-IV) is an individually administered instrument for assessing the cognitive ability
of children aged 6 years to 16 years. The WISC-IV is one of the most reliable and valid
IQ testing instruments available. It is the most widely used measure of IQ for school
placement.

The WISC-IV (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children- Fourth Edition) is an

individually administered clinical instrument for assessing cognitive ability of children
between the ages of 6 years through to 16 years 11 months. The test provides subtest and
composite scores, which represent intellectual functioning in specific cognitive domains
as well as a composite score, which represents general intellectual ability. The WISC-IV
takes from 1 to 2 hours to complete. The report and scoring of results takes a qualified
psychologist from 4 to 8 hours to complete.

The WISC-IV provides scores that represent intellectual functioning in four specified
cognitive domains: Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Reasoning, Processing Speed and
Working Memory. The WISC-IV also provides a Full Scale IQ score measuring general
intellectual ability.

For children under 6 years: The Wechsler Preschool & Primary Scale of Intelligence
(WPPSI-III) is an individually administered instrument for assessing the cognitive ability
of children aged 2.5 years and 7 years. As with the WISC-IV, the WPPSI-II is one of the
most reliable and valid IQ testing instruments available.

The WPSSI-III provides scores that represent intellectual functioning in four specified
cognitive domains: Verbal IQ, Performance IQ, Processing Speed and General Language.
The WPPSI-III also provides a Full Scale IQ score measuring general intellectual ability.

Ravens Progressive Matrices and Coloured Progressive Matrices

Name Ravens Progressive
Matrices
Age range 8 years to adulthood
Items Five sets of 12 matrices
each called set A, B, C, D
and E, progressive in
difficulty level. The items
are shapes in black and
Coloured Progressive
Matrices
Children from 6-11 years
Three sets of 12 matrices
each called set A, B, and C
progressive in difficulty
level. The items are shapes
 white in colours.

The Ravens and Coloured Progressive Matrices is used for testing cognitive ability at the
perceptual level. The Coloured Progressive Matrices is also used in the case of mentally
challenged children. For children with Learning Disabilities it is very useful for ruling out
retardation.

B. Tests of Achievement
The most common tests administered to students are Achievement tests. These are meant
to measure how much a student has learned in specific content areas such s reading
comprehension, language usage, computation, science, social studies, mathematics and
logical reasoning. There are achievement tests for both- individuals and groups.
Some individual tests are: Wide Range Achievement test, Peabody Individual
Achievement test and the Keymath Diagnostic tests. Individual tests are given to
determine a childs academic level more precisely, or to help diagnose learning
disabilities and difficulties.
Some of the commonly used groups tests are: Iowa Test of Basic Skills, Stanford
Achievement Tests, British Spelling Test Series and Richmond Tests of Basic Skills, The
GMAT(Graduate Management Admission Test), Graduate Record Examinations
(GRE) and SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test).

Group tests are often used for screening- to identify children who might need further
testing or as a basis for grouping students according to achievement levels. There are
certain advantages of group tests. They can be administered to very large numbers
simultaneously, there is simplified examiner role; the scoring is typically more objective
and large, representative samples are often used leading to better-established norms.

Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-educational battery [WJ]

The WJ is an individually administered multiple skill test battery. It can be used on
subjects from 3 to 80 years of age and is divided 2 parts [1] Tests of Cognitive Abilities
and [2] Tests of Achievement. These two are further divided into two parts- Standard and
extended Batteries.
The Test of Cognitive Abilities both Standard and Extended, have a number of subtests
that measure clusters of abilities like vocabulary, thinking abilities, cognitive efficiency,
phonemic awareness, memory, attention, etc. each of the standard and extended batteries
have 11 to 12 subtests that are organized in clusters.
The tests of Achievement are also organized as clusters in the Standard and Extended
Batteries and provide scores for Oral Language, Reading, Writing, Mathematics,
Academic Knowledge and Aptitude, Academic Skills, Fluency and Applications.

Kauffman Assessment Battery for Children [K-ABC]

The second edition (KABC-II), which was published in 2004, is an individually
administered measure of the processing and cognitive abilities of children and
adolescents aged 3-18. The KABC-II helps to identify an individuals strengths and
weaknesses in cognitive ability and mental processing. The information proved by the
KABC-II can facilitate clinical and educational planning, treatment planning and
placement decisions. As with most psychological assessments the utility can be improved
when combined with other tools.

The KABC-II is grounded in a dual theoretical foundation: the Cattell-Horn-Carroll

(CHC) psychometric model of broad and narrow abilities and Lurias neuropsychological
theory of processing. With the KABC-II, the examiner can choose which theoretical
model to follow. Typically the Cattell-Horn-Carroll model is useful for children from a
mainstream cultural and language background. Or if Crystallized Ability would not be a
fair indicator of the childs cognitive ability, examiners may choose the Luria model,
which excludes verbal ability.
KABC-II yields two general intelligence composite scores: Mental Processing Index
(MPI; Lurias model) and Fluid-Crystallized Index (FCI; CHC model). The Luria model
takes 25-60 minutes to administer while the CHC model takes 30-75 minutes to
administer depending on the childs age.
The KABC-II has 18 subtests of two types: core and supplementary. Before testing the
examiner decides which model to follow: Luria or CHC. The subtests are grouped into 4
or 5 scales depended on the age and interpretive model chosen. Lurias model consists of
four scales: Sequential Processing Scale, Simultaneous processing Scale, Learning
Ability and Planning Ability. CHC model renames these: Short Term Memory (Gsm),
Visual Processing (Gv), Long Term Storage and Retrieval (Glr) and Fluid Reasoning
(Gf) plus an additional 5th scale Crystallized Ability (Gc).

Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests

The Woodcock Reading Mastery tests is a batter of six individually administered subtests
intended to measure reading abilities from kindergarten through adult levels. It divides
reading into three clusters appropriate to age and ability levels: readiness, basic skills and
reading comprehension. Results may be calculated manually or through the software that
comes with the assessment.

Wide Range Achievement Test [WRAT]

The WRAT is an individually administered test to ascertain the achievement of students
in the areas of Reading, Writing and Mathematics. The test is divided into three sections-
Reading, Writing and Mathematics. The test of reading comprises a combination of
words- sight words, phonologically regular words and is organized in increasing levels of
difficulty. The test of Spelling requires the student to write down the dictated words-
these are again arranged in increasing levels of difficulty. The test of Mathematics has
sums, which the student is expected to solve using the basic operations. The test provides
standard scores and a normative classification.

C. Diagnostic Tests
Most diagnostic tests are administered on students individually by a highly trained
professional. The goal is usually to identify the specific problems a student has in the
various academic areas and in the development of skills.
,

Dyslexia Screening Test [DST]

The Dyslexia Screening Test is an individually administered test for identifying those
individuals who might be at risk for Dyslexia. It provides at risk Index at the end of
the test through its age related norms for the measurement of the development of the
skills. The test is available in the pre-school and adult levels as well. The test involves the
assessment of the development of various sub-skills related to reading,and appear as a
combination of timed and un-timed tests.

Diagnostic Test of Learning Disabilities [DTLD]

This is a test developed by the Center of Special of Special Education, SNDT University,
Mumbai in order to identify children with Learning Disabilities in the age range of 7 to
11 years. This test is divided into 10 subtests and assesses areas like visual perceptual
skills, auditory perceptual skills, cognitive abilities, memory, receptive language and
expressive language. Since the test has been developed and normed on Indian population
it is fairly culture free and in fact it has been translated and administered into various
regional languages. The test can be used by teachers who have been trained to use this
test and provides valuable information that helps in taking decisions about further testing.

Diagnostic test of Reading Disorders [DTRD]

Another test developed by the Center of Special Education, SNDT University, Mumbai
for the detection of reading disorders. The test has been developed as a means of
providing help for the classroom teacher in the process of screening children for reading
disorders or Dyslexia. It is an individually administered test for children of ages 8 to 11
years. The test is divided into two levels. All students take the level 1 test and only those
that do reasonably well on this level go on to take the level 2 test. Test items assess
various sub-skills related to the reading process like phonological processing, reading real
and nonsense words, comprehension listening, aloud and silent.

Tools and Methods

The formal standardized tests though having many advantages are not always the best
way to conduct an assessment of a child with a learning disability. The following are the
reasons why the formal methods and tools dont always work:
How important is thisone should write about the advantages of each of these)
A] The tests require highly specialized, and sometimes specific training before an
individual can start using them. Many of the tools can only be administered by Clinical or
educational Psychologists, and some can be used by those who have the training at a
Masters level in Special Education.
B] The cost of buying and then administering them can often be prohibitive. These
include some of those ones with the most rigorous norms and standards.
C] The tests have elements in them that can be highly culture specific. For example the
vocabulary section may have specific references to words that exclusively commonly
occur in a particular culture but may not be accessible to the general population of
another culture. An example of this is the picture vocabulary section of the Woodcock
Johnson Test where one of the items on the test is the picture of a man wearing a toga.
How many of the students in the sub-continent would be exposed this kind of learning on
a day-to-day basis?
D] The tests being expensive are not easily available; therefore many children living in
smaller towns may have no accessibility to the professionals conducting these
assessments.
This is the reason why the individuals with Learning Disabilities are often not identified
and diagnosed. This leaves them to struggle through the learning process and usually
school becomes a chore for them and the learning, a parents burden.
At this time it is the informal means of assessment that help teachers and parents
diagnose these children and often also become a means of teaching. The tools and
methods of Informal screening and assessment are:
Observations
Rating Scales and Checklists
Interviews and questionnaires
Informal class tests and curriculum based assessments
Case Study

A. Observations

Observation is a direct means for learning about students, including what they do or do
not know and can or cannot do. It is one of the most efficient and informative techniques
used to evaluate behavior in the classroom, if done systematically. This information
makes it possible for the teacher to plan ways to encourage students' strengths and to
work on their weaknesses. Observation is the planned viewing and analysis of students'
behaviors and skills, their work environment, and their interactions with other students,
and their teachers.

Observations are an opportunity to see how students solve problems and to learn what
factors may affect their ability to learn, complete work, and interact in a positive way
with others.

Observations are an important part of the Special Education Diagnostic process. They
can be used for general information gathering or designed to identify specific behaviors.
They can assess the student's ability to perform specific tasks and pinpoint exactly where
students make mistakes in their work. They can be unstructured narratives, semi-
structured forms, or highly structured, as in standardized behavior checklists.

Observations as a tool for assessment

Many attributes of a student are inadequately identified through standardized test

instruments or interviews. The skillful diagnostician is able to detect many of these
characteristics through astute observation of the students behavior and the proficient use
of informal tests. Therefor the advantages of using observations include:
 it corroborates the test findings.
Another advantage is that it provides substantial information on student
demonstration of learning outcomes at all levels of education.
Through observation we obtain rich and diverse range of evidence on student
learning outcomes
It helps in bringing forth all the learning outcomes which otherwise would go
unrecognized.
Another advantage of observation is that it makes the assessment more connected
and real to actual learning as they are based in the familiar and contextual setting.
They also has the advantage of contextualizing as they are embedded in the
students environment and allow the student to be his/her natural self, since there
is no artificial setting in which they are plunged, to be observed.
Observation is authentic and interesting, challenging and meaningful to the
students.
It is a holistic approach to the understanding of student behavior as they take into
account all the aspects of the student.
Another advantage of observation is that it provides insight into the personal
adjustment of a child. While it is one thing to hear that a particular child shows
withdrawal behaviours when the task becomes too difficult it is far more
important that the teacher is able to observe this through a systematic observation.
It helps in arriving at conclusions about the use of speech and language, which
can otherwise not be assessed through paper pencil tasks.

Observation is most effective when it follows a systematic plan. This might involve, for
instance, seeing and recording which students use physical materials, which do most of
the problems mentally, which use thinking strategies, and which rely on memorized facts.
It may be helpful at times to focus on observing one student within the context of a group
setting.

Types of observations

Incidental or Planned
Incidental observations

These kinds of observations occur during the ongoing activities of teaching and learning
and the interactions between the students and the teacher. In this kind of observation an
unplanned opportunity occurs during the teaching for observing some aspect of a student
learning. Often teachers depend on this kind of learning to report back on the student.
This is only possible if a record is maintained of the observed behaviours.

Planned observations:

These kinds of observations are planned deliberately to create an opportunity for the
teacher to observe student learning and its outcomes. This may be planned within the
regular classroom or it may be done through a planned task of assessment either paper
pencil one or performance. Planned observations are also used when a particular behavior
has been a concern for teachers and they want to collect evidence for it. In these cases the
observations are carefully planned down to the last details.

The Narrative Observation:

Narrative Observations are written notes describing what the observer sees in the
classroom.

Semi-structured Observations:
Semi-structured Observations may be created by the observer to identify specific
behaviors or factors that may affect the student's academic performance. Semi-structured
forms usually rate the frequency of a behavior. For example, a form may be designed to
determine how many times in a class period a student gets out of his seat to wander the
room and how long it takes an adult to redirect him. They may also help observers
identify triggers for behaviors.

Highly structured Observations:

Highly structured observations are usually checklists that ask the observer to note
whether a behavior or factor is present and to what degree. Such checklists are usually
designed to assist in the diagnosis of a disorder such as Attention Deficit Disorder or in
Learning Disabilities such as Dyslexia. They frequently include statistical comparisons
that allow the examiner to determine how the student's behaviors compare to other
students of his age and gender.

Observation tools are instruments and techniques that help teachers to record useful data
about students' learning in a systematic way. Some observation tools include:

1. Anecdotal records: As the name suggests these are maintained in much the same way
as one would write anecdotes- in details and written down as and when events are
occurring. They can be of the following types.
Anecdotal notes: Short notes written during a lesson, as students either work in groups
or individually, or after a lesson.

Anecdotal notebook: A notebook where a teacher records his or her observations. An

index on the side, organized by either student name or behavior, is helpful.

Anecdotal note cards: An alternative system to an anecdotal notebook, in which the

teacher records observations using one card per child. One way to facilitate this process is
to select five children per day for observation. The cards can be kept together on a ring.

Labels/adhesive notes: Like note cards, the use of these small adhesive notes frees the
teacher from having to carry a notebook around the classroom. After the observation is
complete, the teacher can adhere the notes into his or her filing system.

2. Event recording: this is a recording of events as and when they happen. This is
especially helpful in recording behaviours and issues related to behaviours. It is a record
of a number of times a behavior occurs.

3. Duration Recoding: this is used when duration is more important than the frequency
of a said behavior. For example a child may not exhibit too many of the behaviours
associated with Attention Deficit Disorder, but even the one exhibited lasts for an
extremely long time. This then becomes important for the teacher to record.

4. Interval Recording: this kind of observation requires both duration and the frequency.
So it becomes important to know how long a behavior lasts and how frequently does it
occur. If a child with Learning Disabilities is often distracted then it becomes important
for the teacher to know- how often does this happen and for how long at a time does the
child become distracted.

5. Time sampling: this kind of observation is very similar to Interval Recording but is a
little more useful because it does not require continuous observation. The teacher sets a
time over which she/he would observe the student but with a set time gap. And then at the
decided time after a set interval would then make the observation regarding the chosen
behaviours.
Skills required for conducting an observation
It is important to work on these skills though many of them come instinctively to us.
Looking: we need to know what we are looking for. The teacher needs to make herself
familiar with the developmental norms pertaining to the area that she will be observing.
For example reading: she needs to know that the child that she is planning her
observation on belongs should be meeting certain expectations of developmental norms.
She has to be aware of these. She also needs to be aware of what these would translate
into in terms of reading. Only then will she know what she is looking for.
Listening:
The observer must have a keen sense of listening and not just hearing. Listening involves
active evaluation of the information that is coming in, and the observer needs to be aware
of this. Listening also involves all aspects of a childs relationships and interface with all
adults and children in the environment. It requires the observer to make judgments about
not only what the child is saying but delving into the deeper meaning.
Recording:
This requires a clear statement of what is being observed. The observer needs to note
down or record all that being seen, heard and felt throughout the observation. This
should be done clearly, precisely and accurately as well as in great details.
Thinking
A very important aspect is the thinking through of what has been observed. Once all the
data has been obtained it has to be evaluated and then used for planning intervention.
Many observations will yield data that will require collating and then analysis. Decisions
about what needs to be done next have to be taken.
Questioning
The teacher may need to ask questions for clarifications, confirming or rejecting ideas
about what has been observed. The questions may be directed towards parents or students.

However it is important to keep in the mind the following before beginning to do an

observation

Sampling: one observation is not enough and the teacher should not try to base
her findings on a single observation.
Need for clear assessment criteria: reliability is only assured when everyone
engaged in the assessment process is perfectly clear about what is being looked
for, and what evidence is required to determine competence. The teacher needs to
develop a clear criteria of what she will be observing before she actually begins
the process. This should be based on facts and developmental norms. For example
she cannot be looking for examples of reading from the child that require
developmentally higher order skills than he has.
Control for context: one of the difficulties of assessing teaching by direct
observation, for example, is that some classes and topics are far more difficult to
teach than others.
 Ensure that product evidence is gathered and retained wherever possible,
including video-recordings etc. When evidence consists of check-lists or similar
devices, ensure that the student has a copy as soon as possible, and that there is an
opportunity for dissenting views of a particular occasion of observation to be
recorded.

Some inherent biases in observations pointed out by various groups of people

include the following arguments.

Prejudices and preconceived ideas

It is argued that some teachers may form certain judgments regarding the student based
on prior information available and first impressions. These are formed due to the
information provided by the students previous teachers and sometimes even by the
parents who overzealously try to tell the teacher before hand what to expect from the
student. This may magnify the behaviours that she may be looking for and may also
cause her to see the said behavior. It may then lead to either the halo effect or the
masking effect. She may actually see a specific outcome when it is not there-
therefore the halo effect or the learning outcome may have been demonstrated but she
fails to notice it since she did not expect to see it- therefore masking it.

Selective perception

This involves seeing and hearing what we are predisposed to see and hear. This is often
not done consciously. It usually occurs due to psychological preconceptions and our
intuitive expectations.

Providing inadvertent clues

The teacher often does that especially when there is a conversation involved between a
student and the observer. In the asking of the questions she/he may sometimes provide
clues without meaning to that may lead to his/her giving the answers she wants them to.

Inappropriate inference

The observer may sometimes draw wrong conclusions from the given facts. The students
behavior may be misinterpreted and mis-represented in the process of arriving at
judgment.

B. Interviews
Interviewing is a broad based technique that can be used to gather information from
parents, teachers, other professionals and from students themselves. It is a direct one-on-
one method and involves an interaction between the interviewer and the interviewee.
Interviews serve the dual purpose of conveying information as well as gathering it. It also
can be used for building a rapport with the student.

Interviews can be highly structured or loosely organized. But this does not imply that
they dont require planning. They need to be planned and organized in a way to ensure
that optimal information can be extracted from the subject. The interviewer should be
clear about the goals and purpose of the interview.
,

Asking Questions

It is often believed that an Interview can be spontaneous and needs no planning or

forethought. This is a misconception and going into an interview with no thought about
what you will ask is setting yourself up for failure. A good Interviewer not only thinks of
the questions that he/she wants to ask but also anticipates the questions and answers that
the interviewees- in this case the parents or the students- might ask. Questions and
counter questions need to be ready with the interviewer in order to abstract the maximum
and most appropriate information.

Interviews are often a means of getting the information that is not available or measurable
through standardized tests and informal tools. Children with Learning disabilities also
reveal a lot of information through what they dont say or has to be inferred through
reading between the lines. The importance of asking the right questions cannot be
highlighted.

Some questions that teachers can ask while interviewing:

Domains Examples of questions.
Motor Does your child have problems with small
or large motor co-ordination?

Cognitive skills Does your child show curiosity about the

environment? How does he/she do so?
When confronted by a problem how does
he/she solve it?
When moving from one activity to another
 how does your child act?
Are there any special activities that interest
your child?
How long can your child attend to an
activity?
Language skills Can your child follow directions?
How would you rate his/her use of words?
Social skills How does your child react to his/her peers?
Does your child share his toys with others?
Psychological Development How does your child react to failure?
How does he/she express his/her emotions?

These following are some lead-in statements that are good for clarifying and sharing
information:

Describe for me . . . . .

Tell me more about . . . . .

Give me an example of . . . . .

Can you tell me about . . . . .

Often what you hear from the parents and students during an interview can appear to be
ambiguous and vague, sometimes some statements are open to interpretations. To ensure
that this does not happen and that there is no room for confusion, paraphrasing the
information can be used. Paraphrasing is a useful technique to use for clarifications, as
well as to help you process the information you have received. The following are good
lead-in statements for paraphrasing:

What I think you mean is . . . . .

I understand you to say . . . . .

What you are saying means to me that . . . . .

Do you mean . . . . .
 Now, as I understand it . . . . .

Let me make sure Im understanding you . . . . .

I hear you saying . . . . .

Your concern seems to be . . . . .

Are you saying that . . . . .

Activity 3
Design either a questionnaire or an interview for a parent from whom you may
want information about a child referred for a learning disability.

C. Case study
A case study of a students development and background will often provide a lot of
insight into a childs specific learning disabilities.
In a case study the investigator attempts to examine an individual or unit in depth. The
investigator tries to discover all the variables that are important in the history or
development of the student. The case study probes and analyzes interactions between the
factors that explain the status or that influence change or growth.
A single case study emphasizes analysis in depth. It is an in-depth, intensive study of an
individual or a group. The kind of information obtained through this method of
investigation would typical include:
History of family members with learning problems
The childs pre-natal history
Birth conditions
Neonatal development
Achievement of developmental milestones such as walking, talking, etc.,
Health history
This information is usually obtained through direct interviews with the parents or through
checklists that they may be asked to fill out. Part of establishing the case history may also
mean a visit to the students home. This provides a clear insight into what is the
environment in the house and allows the investigator to understand the dynamics of the
various relationships in the family, whatever might have been said in an interview.
Sometimes parents may say one thing but the reality may be very different. This kind of a
home visit allows the teacher a glimpse into that reality.

D. Rating scales and Checklists

Teachers and students obtain information through checklists, rating scales and rubrics,
against specific criteria and make judgments about what students know and can do in
relation to the outcomes described in these formats. This is systematic way of collecting
data about specific behaviours, knowledge and skills.
How well the assessment will work or how reliable it would be depends on the
descriptors chosen for the checklists and rating scales. The purpose of checklists, rating
scales and rubrics are as follows:
They provide a systematic means of recording observations
They become a tool for self-assessment- for teachers and students
Help in breaking down criteria into task specific behaviours, skills and strategies,
which are measureable and pinpoint exactly where the breakdown may be and
intervention necessary.

Checklists usually offer a yes/no format in relation to student demonstration of

specific criteria. They simply put forth the documentation of whether a student
displays a certain skill, knowledge or behavior or not. They may be used to record
observations of an individual, a group or a whole class. Checklists are helpful in
devising ways of conducting an assessment over time and in tracking student progress
as well. This is an especially effective method of working with children who exhibit
attention deficit behaviours.

Example of a checklist to be used for a student with Reading Disability:

Please read the following behaviours and mark as yes or no, which ever is applicable
for the student.
Behaviour Yes No
1. The student is able to attach phonetic sounds to the
letter
2. The student is able to blend sounds to make words
3. The student is able to read age and grade appropriate
sight words
4. The student is able to use the strategy of breaking
 words into chunks to read new words

Rating Scales allow teachers to record the frequency of behaviours, skills and strategies
displayed by the students. Rating scales recognize the range of performance levels a
student might exhibit. In a rating scale the criteria is stated and then the respondent is
asked to select from a range of 3 to 4 ratings. The ratings may vary3,5,7,10etc The
advantage of using rating scales is that students can be trained to rate themselves as using
responses like always, usually, sometimes, frequently and never helps them to keep track
of their own performance. It assists in setting goals and thus improving performance. For
children with Learning Disabilities this is an added advantage as reading objective type
statements and being able to recognize the exact areas where they need to improve
empowers them.
Rating scales are also designed to be filled by peers or by students about themselves.
These are very insightful as they provide a perspective of the student from the point
of view of the peers and also help us understand how the students view their own
strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes. A good rating scale or checklist will also
help the assessor read between the lines as to what the student has not spoken of
and lead to conclusions about many unsaid things as well.
The following is an example of a rating scale that may be used to rate a student.
Please read the following statements about written language carefully and rate them as
always, usually, frequently, sometimes, never.
Behavior Always Usually Frequently Sometimes Never
1. The student begins a
sentence with capital letter.
2. His formation of letters is
accurate.
3. The student leaves
adequate space between
letters and words
4. There are crossed out
words and overwritten
words.
5. It is difficult to read the
longer and less familiar
words.
Activity 4 design a checklist or a rating scale for a student to be filled in by:

A] The teacher

B] The student

The rating scale or the checklist should be about reading skills and reading
behavior.

Activity 5
Choose a student from your school you believe may have a learning disability and design
a case study for it for obtaining background information.

Questions for critical reflections

1. Differentiate between Norm reference and Criterion Reference tests. [100 words]
2. What is the importance of testing intelligence of a child suspected of having
learning disabilities? Describe any one intelligence test used in the diagnosis of
learning disabilities.
3. Describe any one method for informal assessment citing its advantages and uses.

Unit Summary
There are formal as well as informal means of assessment. The scores may be norm
referenced or criterion referenced. In Norm reference scores the students scores are
measured against norms of age or grade, while in criterion reference the scores of the
child are measured against a specific criteria. The formal tools of assessment include
Tests of Intelligence, Tests of Achievement and Diagnostic tests.
Among the tools and methods used by teachers informally are Observations, Interviews,
Checklists and rating scales and Case study. All these methods have their merits and
demerits and must be used with care keeping in mind the purpose and the utility of each
one. Observations may be planned or unplanned, structured, loosely structured or highly
structured. Interviews need to be well planned by the interviewer through anticipation of
answers and the kind of leading questions to be asked to extract the maximum
information from the interviewee. Checklists and rating scales are an excellent means of
breaking skills down in order to find out exactly where a student is struggling with the
learning.Case study provides the teacher an opportunity to gather information about a
student and to study the child intensively.
2.2.9 References
,

Hamill, Donald D. [1987] Assessing the Abilities and Instructional Needs of Students- a
Practical guide for Educators, Psychologists, Speech Pathologists and Diagnosticians.
Pro-ed
Teacher observation in student assessment- Discussion paper prepared by Graham H
Maxwell, School of Education, University of Queensland.
Lerner, Janet W [1988] Learning Disabilities- Theories, Diagnosis and Teaching
Strategies, Houghton Miflin Company

Weaver, Brenda [2011] Formal versus Informal Assessments, www.scholastic.com

Curriculum based assessment Unit
Ruchika Sachdev
3

Introduction
Teachers spend most of their time in the classroom making quick judgments about
student performance and abilities. They even exchange these notes about students
informally with other teachers teaching the same students. This often forms the basis of
judgment of the students and the formation of teacher attitude. So it is imperative to use
this ability of teachers to observe, assess and plan for their students. All that is required is
careful planning and organization in order to teach the teachers to use this method of
assessment to get maximum results. This unit will help teachers develop an
understanding of how to use Curriculum based assessment so that it is an accurate
estimation of the childrens ability.

Learning outcomes
At the end of this unit you will be able to:
Define what is Curriculum Based Assessment
Describe the features of Curriculum Based Assessment
List out the types of tools of Curriculum Based Assessment
Design an appropriate tool for conducting a Curriculum Based Assessment

Curriculum Based Assessment?

A very important tool that all teachers use for assessment is based on what is taught in the
classroom. There are generally two types of assessments carried out by the teachers:
Formative assessment and Summative assessment.
Formative assessment is conducted at the beginning or during the instruction. The
purpose of Formative assessment is to guide the teacher is planning and to help identify
areas that need further work.
Formative assessment is a term for any type of assessment used to gather student
feedback and improve instruction. Formative assessments occur during the learning
process, often while students are engaged in other activities. Anecdotal records, periodic
quizzes or essays, diagnostic tests and in-class or homework assignments are all types of
formative assessment because they provide information about a student's progress.

Summative assessment is done at the end of instruction. The purpose of this is to let the
teacher and the student know the level of achievement and attainment. Summative
assessment occurs at the end of a unit of study in order to measure the amount of
information the students have learned. Most traditional assessment types are considered
summative. Summative assessments reflect students' learning and the teacher's ability to
communicate information effectively.
The purpose of a Summative assessment is to inform the teachers, students and parents-
about the standard of work.

Curriculum Based Assessment is both- assessment and a teaching practice that uses the
material to be learned as the basis for evaluating student performance for the purpose of
determining the learners instructional needs.
Curriculum Based Assessment is viewed as a return to traditional educational procedures
and the ultimate in teaching to test. It measures the students level of achievement in
terms of the expected curricular outcomes of the school. It is a form of both- formative
evaluation and Summative Assessment.

Curriculum Based Assessment [CBA] is a procedure designed to strengthen the

connection between assessment and instruction by evaluating the student in terms of
curricular requirements of the students class or school. This is the tool used by the
classroom teacher or the subject specialist teacher. CBA, though an old approach is
gaining importance and recognition as an essential means to action research for the
teacher in the classroom. She uses direct ways of assessing students in the classroom to
inform her planning and teaching.
In the CBA the materials that are used are drawn directly from the students curriculum.
A primary goal of the CBA is to provide useful data for instructional planning, data,
which is not available on standardized tests
The essential comparisons made in CBA are to compare a learners performance on a
subsequent day, rather than compare the performance with peers or norms.
An important feature is its use in identifying the learners instructional level and avoiding
instruction that is either too frustrating or boring.
Key features of CBA
CBA is typically carried out by the teacher of the student and not a psychologist or
diagnostician.
CBA provides an alternative to traditional norm referenced measures.
CBA is based on the curriculum that a student is familiar with
CBA links testing to instruction- the teacher assesses behaviours that are directly relevant
to the classroom. These may be related to the leaning or social-emotional.
CBA can be tied to the IEP goals. The teacher looks at the goals and then frequently tests
those goals. This kind of assessment may be carried out as often as two to three times a
week. Based on the findings the teacher then set goals that are achievable and measurable.
CBA requires graphing of progress using direct and repeated measures

CBA includes:
Procedures for direct observation and analysis of the learning environment
Analysis of the processes used by the students approaching tasks
Examination of student products
Control and arrangement of tasks for the student

The essence of CBA is the linking of assessment to curriculum and instruction.

Blankenship [1985] recommends the following steps in developing and using CBA.
1. List the skills presented in the selected materials
2. Review the list for inclusion of all the important skills
3. Sequence the skills presented in logical order
4. Write an objective for each skill on the test
5. Prepare items to assess student skill on each objective
6. Prepare testing materials for student use
7. Decide how the assessment will be given
8. Assess learners with the CBA before beginning
9. Use results to determine which students have mastered the skills, who are
ready for instruction and who lack mastery of basic skills
 10. Re-administer the test after instruction to determine again the
aforementioned and alter instruction
11. Periodic re-administration

During the CBA the teacher first determines what area of the curriculum or what IEP
goal the student must learn. Then the student is assessed through frequent and repeated
measures of that curriculum area or learning task. Results are displayed and compared
through graphs or charts. This is possible because the progress is visible and observable.

Teachers often declare that they will give a test to students on a certain day on a
particular topic. Often this is a random test, not giving much thought to the kind of
questions that will be asked and how these questions will be framed. But tests need to be
carefully thought about, questions framed in a way that they will truly measure or test
what they claim to and only then will they help in true assessment of potential and
learning leading to accurate planning of further goals.

When the teachers prepare a CBA test, they ask certain questions.

How often will I test?

What am I testing through this particular task?
How am I going to test- what kind of task should it be and will the task be able to
provide the exact measure of what I want to test?
What kind of questions will I ask that will allow the students to express what they
are required to?
Is my test covering the entire range of objectives and does it match with the
objectives that I set out at the beginning of the teaching?
Is there a balance of questions regarding the testing of knowledge, skills and
application?

Dempster [1991] examined the research on reviews and tests and arrived at these
conclusions regarding when to test?

1. Frequent testing encourages the retention of information and appears to be more

effective than a comparable amount of time spent reviewing and studying the
material.
2. Tests are especially effective in promoting learning if you give students a test on
material soon after they learn it, then retest on the material later. The retesting
should be spaced farther and farther apart.
 3. The use of cumulative questions on tests is a key to effective learning. Cumulative
questions ask students to apply information learned in previous units to solve a
new problem.
A very important source of teaching as well as testing objectives is the Blooms
Taxonomy of objectives. All regular teachers are familiar with the taxonomy of
objectives. They should refer to these objectives and use them while framing tests and
assessments.

Bloom's taxonomy is a classification system of educational objectives based on the level

of student understanding necessary for achievement or mastery. Six different cognitive
stages in learning have been suggested/ (Bloom, 1956; Bloom, Hastings & Madaus,
1971). Given below is

Bloom's cognitive domains in order, with definitions:

Involves the simple recall of information; memory of

1. Knowledge
words, facts and concepts

2. The lowest level of real understanding; knowing

Comprehension what is being communicated

The use of generalized knowledge to solve a

3. Application
problem the student has not seen before

Breaking an idea or communication into parts such

4. Analysis
that the relationship among the parts is made clear

Putting pieces together so as to constitute a pattern

5. Synthesis
or idea not clearly seen before

Use of a standard of appraisal; making judgments

6. Evaluation about the value of ideas, materials or methods within
an area

There is an implied hierarchy to Bloom's categories, with knowledge representing the

simplest level of cognition and the evaluation category representing the highest and most
complex level. Teachers can identify the level of chosen classroom objectives and create
assessments to match those levels.
One can write items for any given level. It is decidedly easier to test knowledge since it
has objectively scored test items. Perhaps that is the reason why many teachers reach out
for testing the lower levels. It is admittedly, more difficult, but not impossible, to measure
the higher levels of objectives. By designing items to tap into teacher-chosen levels of
cognitive complexity, classroom assessments increase validity.

It is imperative that teachers plan their assessment carefully and wisely and if they do that
they will be able to obtain a true measure of the skills, knowledge and ability of children
with learning disabilities in their classrooms. They will be able to tell that at which level
does a child have real deficits and which ones are merely spillovers of other areas. When
this kind of an assessment is combined with the assessment of reading, writing and
mathematics domains then the findings are even more meaningful.
Activity 5

Using Blooms taxonomy of objectives, plan a test for a student with learning
disabilities on any topic of your choice.

Classroom assessment can occur at many levels and we will look at two types in this
section.

Traditional Assessment Tools,

And

Innovative Classroom Assessment Tools

Some of the commonly used Traditional Assessment Tools are:
Textbook tests
Objective tests including Multiple-Choice Tests, Fill in the Blanks, Cloze
procedures, True and False statements
Essay type questions

Some new forms of Innovative Classroom Testing include the following:

Authentic
Portfolios
Dynamic assessment
Traditional Approaches of CBA

Textbook test
Most of the primary as well as secondary school rely largely on textbook teaching and
testing. As a matter of fact there are teaching and testing supplementary texts available
for all courses and subjects in the market that profess to coach students in to giving the
right answers through practice and drill work. There are ready made tests that are also
available and very often the students are able to match and even predict where the teacher
will make their test paper from.
The decision to use a textbook test must be taken after a teacher identifies the objectives
that he/she has taught and now wants to test.
The teacher must also be aware that though the textbook tests address a typical classroom,
in reality there is no such thing as a typical classroom. The teacher must be able to make
the required changes so that the test is then more representative of the whole spectrum of
the children and their abilities within a classroom.

The questions for assessment must be designed keeping the following in mind:
The questions should match the instructional objectives and should take in account
what are important aspects that were taught in class. If the teacher had emphasized
certain topics then are those being tested?
The questions must test the skills the student was taught in the class. If the class had
practiced a lot of map work during the geography lesson then the test paper should
test the same skills.
The language level should be appropriate to the students skills and abilities. The
teacher should also remember that when she/he is testing concepts then the
language should not become a barrier to a child performing at his or her optimum
level.

Objective tests
The word objective implies the meaning that something which is not open to many
interpretations. It is the opposite of subjective. Therefore the tests that are known as
objective tests do not leave any room for individualized answers based on interpretations
and perceptions. The types of Objective tests are:
Multiple-choice questions
Matching exercises
 True/false statements
Short answers or fill-in the blanks types
The advantages of using objective tests:
They are straightforward and easy to score
They allow the students with Learning Disabilities to display their knowledge of
the content, especially for those who have written language disorders and are
unable to write
They can be used effectively to test the knowledge aspect that the student may
have acquired.

However, multiple-choice questions, if framed appropriately can be used to test

application and higher order skills. Some important ideas for constructing objective type
questions:
The questions in a multiple-choice format should be clear and simple and present
a single problem.
Teachers should try and stay with positive statements and avoid negative
statements whether in the multiple-choice questions or true and false statements
format.
The answer choices should not have very fine distinctions.
Avoid using the textbook wordings or sequence of presentation of the items.
If using distractors then those should be avoided that are almost similar in their
meanings. These kind of questions can often confuse children with learning
disabilities.

Essay type questions

This format for testing is very often considered the best way to evaluate the various
aspects of learning. The student is asked to write responses to a variety of questions and
is expected, very often, to create his/her own answers. The disadvantage of this type of
format is that there are no ready-made answers that a teacher can check against. The
interpretation is often subjective and requires a high level of skills of discernment. This
disadvantage can be overcome by pre-deciding the criteria and using a rubric to mark the
answer and this rubric can be designed and agreed upon by a number of teachers teaching
across the grades.
An essay question, since it covers less of the content than objective questions can, should
clearly specify the task expected of a student. The essay should not use vague language
and must have clear guidelines about what all elements a student is expected to cover.
For children with Learning Disabilities it is even more important to design essay
questions carefully. The questions itself should not become a challenge for the students.
The students will require the following, if authentic information has to be obtained.
Clear objectives in the questions
Clearly spelt out question words- if you want them to compare something to
something then the teacher needs to say so clearly rather than using the word
comment, which is open to interpretations.
The question itself should include all the elements that the student will be
expected to cover and marked against.
A specific marks-scheme through a break-up of sections and how much
weightage each section will carry. E.g. if a question has three parts then the
mark-scheme should specify how much will each section be worth.
The students should also know how extensive should their answer be and about
how much time they need t spend on their answers.

Marking an essay question

It is extremely important that the essay question is evaluated appropriately if it is to
provide authentic information about a student with learning disabilities. Marking essay
questions is often the most difficult since it is difficult to avoid subjectivity. Teachers
need to be cautioned against letting their personal characteristics or biases against the
student with learning disabilities affect the grading and true interpretation of the students
strengths and weaknesses.
Some of the effective techniques to avoid the pitfalls of subjectivity would include:

Construction of a model answer or an exemplar. This would serve as a benchmark

when marking the essay question.
Create a rubric that would mark or grade various aspects of the answer. It also
helps to have a rubrics that takes into account knowledge and skills so that at the
time of making judgments the teacher can confidently say what aspects are the
real problems for the student.
Sometimes more than one teacher may grade an answer or the teacher may
discuss her marking with another teacher to arrive at conclusions.
Innovative Classroom Testing
There is considerable development in the field of education as far as classroom testing is
concerned. Teachers are looking for ways of testing students that is a departure from the
traditional forms of testing, which dont seem to work for children with Learning
Disabilities. Indeed, these new approaches often become a source of more authentic and
reliable ways of assessing all children.

These include: these do not come under CBA your unit topic but are different types of
assessment which come under ecological assessment-the others are dynamic,
Performance, product, Portfolio etc
,,

Authentic Classroom Assessment [ACA]

Authentic Classroom Assessment ask students to apply skills and abilities as they would
in real life. For example a student may be asked to use fractions to distribute pizza slices
in a class. He/she would be required to work out how they would do this using the skills
that they have been taught in class. This is often a very useful tool in judging a student
with Learning Disabilities, as many of them are good at applying skills while others may
be good at retaining the knowledge but find it difficult to apply what they know. A
combination of objective type, essay questions and ACA would provide a true estimation
of the strengths and weaknesses of a child with learning disabilities.

Anita Woolfolk (year)cites a quote from Grant Wiggins to emphasize the concept of
ACA.
If tests determine what teachers actually teach and what students will study for- and
they do- then the road to reform is a straight but steep one: test those capabilities and
habits we think are essential, and test them in context. Make [tests] replicate, within
reason, the challenges at the heart of each academic discipline. Let them be authentic.

Authentic assessment requires students to do exactly what we expect them to do in life-

read, write, think, create, analyze, do research, solve problems and to apply knowledge.
This is the essence of learning. If teachers can design situations where students actually
exhibit all these skills along with the knowledge and content, then the assessment
becomes authentic. Authentic Classroom Assessment requires students to perform. The
performance may be thinking performance, physical performance, creative performance
or may take any other forms. For students will learning disabilities these performance
based tasks are often very revealing in terms of many areas- not only does the teacher get
an estimation of what the student knows, but also how does he/she know and how well
can she/he apply what she/he knows. It also allows the teacher a glimpse into other areas
including social-emotional.
Portfolios
A portfolio is systematic collection of work, often including work in progress, revisions,
student self-analysis and reflections on what the student has learned. Students generally
choose the work they want to place in the portfolio but often a teacher makes suggestions.
Maintaining a portfolio of the students work shows progression. It makes it easier for the
teachers to re-visit and review the goals that are set up for the students with learning
disabilities. The teacher is able to use the students work itself for a comparison for the
sake of charting progress.

An effective portfolio also keeps the record of the criteria that was used for evaluation of
the students work. It also documents the self-assessment of a student since a lot of work
is based on reflections. It is also a representative of the whole student as it contains a
variety of work, which cuts across content, subjects and skills.

To evaluate a portfolio a teacher can take the help of developing a rubrics or checklists. It
is a good idea to involve the student in self-analysis through judging his/her work against
a criteria.

Activity 6:
Put together a portfolio of a student over a period of three months with his/her
inputs.

Questions for critical reflections

1. Define Curriculum Based Assessment and its chief features. [100 words]
2. Outline the steps in conducting a CBA. [100 words]
3. What are some of the advantages of using objective type questions with students with
learning disabilities? [80 words]
4. How does an Authentic Classroom Assessment work in the regular classroom?
5. How do teachers ensure that the marking on a essay question remains fair?

Summary
Curriculum based assessment is a very important means of assessing children with
learning disabilities. As the name suggests it is based on the curriculum and drawn from
what a student is learning at the time of the assessment.

Assessment may be formative or summative. While formative assessment is assessment

of learning, summative assessment is usually assessment of learning. Formative
assessment data is useful as it is collected over a period of time while summative
assessment data is a one-time test.
CBA has many features the most important ones being that it can ensures that testing is
linked to instruction and that it can be tied to the IEP goals of a student.
CBA uses the traditional methods of assessing like the objective type testing, essay
questions and textbook questions. It also employs more innovative ways of assessment
like the use of portfolios and authentic classroom assessment.

References

Reutzel, Dr. Ray, Cooter Jr, Robert B. [1992] Teaching children to Read, from Basals to
Books MacMillan Publishing Company
Woolfolk, Anita [2006] Psychology, Ninth edition, by Anita Woolfolk, Pearson
education Inc.,
Hammill, Donald D [1987] Assessing the Abilities and Instructional Needs of Students- a
Practical guide for Educators, Psychologists, Speech Pathologists and Diagnosticians,
Pro-ed
Lerner, Janet W, [1988] Learning Disabilities- Theories, Diagnosis and Teaching
Strategies by Janet W. Learner
Baskwell, Jane; Whitman, Paulette [1997] Every Child can Read- Strategies and
Guidelines for Helping Struggling Readers. Scholastic Professional Books
Assessment of Academic skills Unit
Reading, Writing and Mathematics 4
Ruchika Sachdev

Introduction
Since Learning Disabilities affect and manifest in academic areas, it is imperative that
teachers should be able to identify the areas of deficit in these curricular domains. The
teacher is the first point of contact with the child in an academic set-up and should be
able to screen the student in case he/she begins to find it difficult to cope with the
demands of the curriculum. Since Learning Disabilities are categorized into three main
types Dyslexia, Dysgraphia and Dyscalculia, it is natural to assume that the symptoms of
the three will be different once the commonalities are recognized. The following unit will
attempt to introduce the concept of assessment of the three main areas of reading, writing
and mathematics and what teacher-made tools can be used effectively.

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this unit you will be able to:
Discuss the diagnostic criteria for disorders of reading, writing and mathematics.
State the measures that can be used in the classroom to screen students in the
academic areas.
Critically examine the differences in the various tools used and choose the most
appropriate ones for use in the classroom.

Assessment of Reading disorders or Dyslexia

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders describes the diagnostic
criteria for A Reading Disorder as the following.
Diagnostic Criteria for Reading Disorder
A. Reading achievement, as measured by individually administered standardized tests
of reading accuracy or comprehension, is substantially below that expected given
the persons chronological age, measured intelligence, and age-appropriate
education.
B. The disturbance in Criterion A significantly interferes with academic achievement
or activities of daily living that require reading skills.
C. If a sensory deficit is present, the reading difficulties are in excess of those usually
associated with it.

The following are the kind of errors most commonly made by children with reading
disorders or Dyslexia

Poor reading habits

Frequently loses his or her place while reading
Does not like to read avoids picking up books
Can we mention avoidance

Straining /rubbing the eye etc

Word recognition errors

Omitting a word [e.g. He came to the park is read as he came to park]
Inserting a word [ He came to the [beautiful] park]
Substituting a word for another [ e.g. He came to the pond]
Reversing letters or words [e.g. was is read as saw]
Mispronouncing words [ e.g. park is read as pork]
Transposing letters or words[ park is read as prak]

Indicators for assessment of reading skills

Teachers are required to look for certain aspects specific to reading when doing an
assessment of reading. These include:

A. Word recognition skills

This is a skill that the student exhibits of identifying words and is often used
synonymously with word attack skills. This describes the reading strategies that are
employed to decode unknown words. This ability includes all aspects of:
Alphabet knowledge
Discrimination between letters
Discrimination between sounds
Associating sounds and letters
Analysis of structural aspects of a word
Analysis of the phonetic aspects of a word
Knowledge of sight words
Application of strategies to read new words
B. Comprehension
The purpose of all reading is the understanding of the message conveyed through the
writing and gathering meaning. Comprehension has many aspects and most can be put
together under either direct comprehension or inferential comprehension. Teachers frame
questions that assess the ability of the students to do both, either by locating information
or by reading between the lines.
While assessing the comprehension teachers must keep the following in mind:
Readers bring the background knowledge, skills, their world, their experiences
that they have had. This will affect their understanding of what they read.
What a reader comprehends from a text depends on his/her language skills and
experiences.
The strategies that a reader may have developed to aid in the understanding of the
text will either help in understanding or become a barrier if they are ineffective.

Assessment of reading disorders

Following are some types of assessment measures that work for teachers who are trying
to measure reading abilities.

1. Informal Reading Inventories [IRI]

An IRI is typically an individually administered [though a few may be given to a group]
reading test usually composed of graded word lists and story passages. Emmett A. Betts
is generally considered the person to have introduced the IRIs.
Features and advantages of using the IRI
The IRI provides a more naturalistic and holistic assessment of the reading act, at
least when compared to many other reading tests.
They provide a systematic procedure for studying student miscues or errors
<

Characteristics of Informal Reading Inventories [IRI]

They are unique in their construction because there are no norms, reliability data,
or validity information available. So two teachers using the same IRI on the same
child may end up getting vastly different results. That is the reason why they are
so dependent on the individual teacher.
IRIs offer information that is very often quite helpful to teachers in making
curricular decisions especially when they want to place these students in different
levels of performance. IRIs provide an approximation of each childs reading
ability on the books appropriate for the class or grade level.
The IRIs that are available differ from each other. They have different kinds of
passages and some test more sub-skills of reading than the others. They also
differ in the miscue analysis that they use and in the scoring patterns outlined by
them.
It is believed that the best IRIs is constructed by the teachers out of the curriculum
that they teach, using reading material from their own classrooms.

2. Portfolio assessment
A portfolio is a folder containing samples of student products reflecting the whole
picture of the childs reading development. Usually a portfolio assessment folder
contains such items as ungraded report cards; reading logs of books recently read, book
summaries, running records and literature response activities. Through a portfolio a
teacher collects more than one sample of student reading behavior and in a number of
reading tasks.

3. Reading Logs
These are daily records of student reading habits and interests, usually selected by the
students themselves. Students keep a record of all the reading they do over a period of
time. This kind of assessment may also involve parents in order to get feedback from
them about the students reading. Along with the reading log there may be checklists
against which the student marks or rates him/her self.
4. Running records
Clay [1985] describes this as an informal assessment procedure, which has high
reliability. This can inform teachers of where students are at various points during the
year and processes students can control on various forms of text.
In this a students reading is recorded in a procedure that may last up to 10 minutes. Text
is selected from the current grade or class level appropriate and the student may read up
to any of the three following levels
Independent level [almost 95 to 100% accurately]
Instructional level [up to 90% accurately]
Frustration level [less than 80% accurately]
While the student reads, the teacher marks the errors on a copy that she holds in her hand,
noting the kind of errors that are made. This procedure is known as a miscue analysis.
Miscue analysis is a psycholinguistic approach to assessing oral reading. Miscues are the
deviations from the printed text that the student makes while reading orally. Teachers use
these miscue analysis for diagnosing the exact nature and errors that students make while
reading.

Teachers are often able to develop their own symbols to mark the errors that students
make. Some of the commonly used symbols are:
Accurately reads
Substitution Childs word

Actual word in text

Repetition R
Return and repetition
Self correction SC
Omission .

actual word in text

Insertion Childs inserted word

[Part reproduced from Every Child can read. By Jane Baskwell and Paulette Whitman]
2.4.4 Assessment of disorders of written language/Dysgraphia
One of the most important abilities that humans have is that of being able to express
themselves through writing. It is also widely recognized by professionals that almost 90%
children with learning disabilities have difficulty with written language in some form or
the other. In the hierarchy of learning it is the most complex task and is the last to
develop after listening, speaking and reading.
Many students fail to acquire functional competence in this area because writing is a
highly complex method of communication that requires the integration of eye-hand,
linguistic, and conceptual abilities. [Larsen] year

The term dysgraphia has customarily been used to refer to a disorder of written language
expression in childhood as opposed to a disorder of written language acquired in
adulthood. Written language disorders have also been referred to as "developmental
output failures." [Kay] ( year)]

Written language is the graphomotor execution of sequential symbols to convey thoughts

and information. Since writing represents the last and most complex skill to develop, it is
the most vulnerable to insult, injury and adverse genetic influences (Deuel, l994).

Symptoms / Indicators for assessment

The handwriting is generally illegible

There are inconsistencies in writing- the print and cursive writing is mixed up,
vey often the upper case and lower case letters are confused,
The writing is usually marked with irregular sizes. Shapes or slant of letters
The letter positions are inconsistent on the page and on lines and margins
The space between letters and words is inconsistent
Unusual and cramped hold on the writing instrument
The gap between what is thought and what is written is very wide and visible
Lack of sequencing and organization in the written work
Spellings of words are inconsistent- correct in some places and wrong in the
others
May show signs of phonetic spellings
Letters in the words are in wrong positions
May write by reversing or inverting letters
 Written work has many grammatical errors that are not visible in verbal responses
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders describes the diagnostic
criteria for disorder of Written Expression as the following.

A. Writing skills, as measured by individually administered standardized tests [or

functional assessments of writing skills], is substantially below that expected
given the persons chronological age, measured intelligence, and age-
appropriate education.
B. The disturbance in Criterion A significantly interferes with academic
achievement or activities of daily living that require composition of written
texts (e.g. writing grammatically correct sentences and organized paragraphs).
C. If a sensory deficit is present, the difficulties in writing skills are in excess of
those usually associated with it.

Areas of assessment in written language

When teachers begin to look at written language disorders they have to be very careful
about what they are looking for. They need to look for specific difficulties within the
written language domain. There are many aspects to the written language and these
include:

Handwriting Spellings

Grammar or syntax Expression

A student with a written language disorder may have difficulties in all or any one of the
aspects of written language. A systematic assessment of each and then ruling out the
areas where no issues exist is important, if meaningful intervention has to be done.

a. Handwriting

Handwriting is a complex activity requiring visual-spatial-motor ability, fine motor

control and memory. Penmanship or handwriting is a crucial element in communicating
thoughts through writing. If a reader cannot decipher the handwriting of an individual,
regardless of how well the passage is composed its meaning is lost.

Some of the common errors that can be seen while student write include:
 Failure to close letters [e.g. g, a, b]
Sizes may be too small or too big- thus the distinction between letters that are
small [e] gets blurred and mixed up with letters that are longer or bigger [l].
Words and letters are poorly spaced
There is too much pressure on the paper while writing leading to impressions on
the subsequent pages
The words and the letters show poor alignment and run up or down, away from
the line
Mix up of capital letters and lower case letters.
Poor or awkward grasp of the writing instrument

Assessment measures

Handwriting is something that everyone seems to judge by the neatness and legibility of
what one is trying to read. Teachers are usually able to pick out the handwriting or
penmanship issues very easily. But outlined below are some of the ways in which
teachers can assess the handwriting of a student.

A good way to test this is to have an exemplar while evaluating the writing. Have
a sample to compare against the work of the student.

Teachers may use a letter chart to serve as criteria for marking errors of
handwriting.

Often checklists serve a good purpose in the handwriting assessment of a child.

Example of a checklist:
Descriptor Yes No
The student always begins a sentence with a capital letter
The student always closes the o at the same
The students work is neatly placed on the line

Teachers also develop rubrics to use for identifying the stages at which a students
handwriting might be. For example a rubric for handwriting may be
Expert Proficient Needs improvement Does not meet the
 standards
The letters are Most of the letters Many of the letters Most letters are not
always clearly are clearly formed, are clearly formed formed clearly and
formed, with every with most strokes with some strokes the strokes of many
stroke visible visible losing their are unclear as to
sharpness where they begin
and end

b. Assessment of Spelling

Spelling is another aspect of written language, which is often an issue for children with
learning disabilities. It is often very closely related to the occurrence of a reading disorder
therefore, it is confused with being an aspect of Dyslexia by many teachers, parents and
professionals. It is possible that a student may have a spelling disorder and no other
disability. Teachers can also start looking for a pattern in the spelling errors through
careful examination of a students work over time and maintaining records of the errors
that he/she begins to notice.

The following are some of the errors that may be visible:

Addition of letters that are not needed [usually an e at the end of a word]
Omission of necessary words at the end or from the middle of a word [very often
the silent letters in a word]
Spelling as they speak- which may often be a reflection of a pronunciation error
or dialectical preference
Reversal of letters
Inversal of letters
Changing the position of letters in a word [from to form]

Assessment measures

The most commonly used method for an assessment of spelling is the weekly
spelling- test that is a part of curriculum in many schools. This becomes a record
of the progression a child may show as he or she learns to spell more and more
words. For children with learning disabilities the teachers can ensure that the
words come up every week to notice the pattern of errors that a student displays.
 Another method for testing is maintaining records and then comparing the
spellings of the same child over a period of time and across subjects in order to
analyze errors. This can be done through a similar exercise like the miscue
analysis. Once this is done over a period of time, a pattern emerges, which then
becomes a basis of the diagnosis.
A Spelling Assessment Framework, can be used to analyze the spelling of
children who are a cause of concern. The framework should be used with a piece
of a childs unaided writing. Words should be entered one at a time, under the
appropriate column. Given below is the frame work:

Words spelled in standard form [words that are spelt accurately]

Structure and meaning errors/visual errors [words that show these kind of errors-
of structure or visual- example- no instead of know]
Phonetic spellings [words that are spelt phonetically]
Early phonetic/early visual representations [unfamiliar and new words that can be
approximate some parts of the words- nealy for nearly]
Pre-linguistic, showing little understanding of the spelling system. [words that are
completely different to the extent of looking almost bizarre]

A grid can be formed for recording these errors. The teacher must record the date when
this sample is used and an example of the passage written by the child must be attached.

Analysis will show where the bulk of the childs errors lie, and where to focus
teaching. The framework provides a detailed record of progress over time, as the bulk of
a childs errors progress from right to left, across the grid.
c. Grammar
This is one of the most frequently registered complaints regarding the students work. A
child with a written language disorder will often use incorrect structures to convey ideas
in writing, whereas his/her verbal output is vastly different and usually accurate.
Some difficulties experienced by children with written language disorders in correct
usage and grammatical accuracy.
Lack awareness of grammatical concepts- nouns, verbs, adjective etc.
Incorrect use of tenses
Sentences that show a lack of agreement of the verb and the subject- they are
often unaware of the rules that apply here
Incorrect combination of sentences so the sentences end up making no sense
 Incorrect use of prepositions and conjunctions

Burns [1974] developed a grammatical analysis system that addresses the

linguistic forms of verbs, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs and words. The following
is a modified version:
Pupils name Verbs Pronouns Adjectives Words
Adverbs

Teachers may use this table and add the required sub headings for each of the areas
according to the level and age of the student.
Another method that the teachers may employ for testing is the use of checklists.
This works well for the assessment of syntax- syntax is the order in which words
are used in a sentence to convey meaning. A teacher may want to measure the
students proficiency against criteria.
The following is a sample of the checklist a teacher could use:
1. Does the child use simple sentences exclusively yes/no
2. Does the child use any phrases in the sentence yes/no
3. Does the child use descriptive phrases yes/no
4. Are there any compound or complex sentences in the writing Yes/no
5. Is there a variety of lengths or sentence types yes/no
6. Are the words placed correctly in the sentences yes/no

d. Written expression

An inability to express their ideas through writing is the most common disability for
children with learning disabilities. They are unable to communicate effectively what they
think, feel and imagine through written language. These children will often avoid writing
and then when they do write it is usually so inadequate that the teacher is left with no
indication of what the child wanted to convey. This is even more surprising for classroom
teachers who find that these children are perfectly capable of conveying their ideas
verbally.
Symptoms/ Indicators for assessment of written language disorders
Use of limited and similar vocabulary while writing
Ideas are not conveyed very meaningfully
Ideas are not very well sequenced or organized so that the presentation appears
haphazard
The content covered is not adequate as per the requirements of the task
They are often stimulus bound- only list out details and respond to what his
visible
Use of sentences- sometimes not enough secondary details are used to support the
main ideas. The main idea may not be clearly stated in the response
Very limited words are used for elaborations
The child often includes irrelevant details
The ideas used are repetitive

Assessment of written expression

The focus of an assessment of written expression is usually through the product or output
of the student. A teacher may collect a number of samples of the work of a child with
learning disabilities regarding various topics and written in various genres.
The most effective way to test a students written expression is through maintaining a
portfolio of work at different points.
Teachers may develop checklists and rubrics in order to assess the students work.
Measuring against exemplars of other students work is another effective of assessing
written expression.
The various headings under which the assessment may be conducted would include:
Vocabulary
Content
Paragraphs
Planning and organization
Sequencing of ideas
Variety of usage of sentences
Assessment of disorders of Mathematics /Dyscalculia
Dyscalculia is a term used to refer to learning disabilities that involve arithmetic
comprehension or computation. This difficulty in mastering concepts or computations is
usually associated with neurological dysfunction or brain damage and is classified as
developmental (occurring before birth from genetic or congenital problems) or acquired
(occurring after birth usually from a traumatic brain injury). To be classified with
dyscalculia, a child must have intellectual functioning that falls within or above the
normal range and a significant discrepancy between his/her age and math skills (usually 2
years or more). Often children with dyscalculia show a spread of 20 points or more
between their verbal and performance scores on WISC intelligence testing. For a child to
be diagnosed with dyscalculia, it is important to make sure his math deficits are not
related to issues like inadequate instruction, cultural differences, mental retardation,
physical illness or problems with vision or hearing. [Bliss] Year
The assessment in Math includes the following:
1. determining whether the mathematical deficits occur in isolation or are they are part
of a much larger issue.
2. Indicating the pattern of strengths and weaknesses in math.
3. determining at which level is the child functioning in Math.
4. establishing the use of problem solving strategies that a child employs to arrive at
answers and solutions.

There are very specific indicators of difficulty that a student might face in
mathematics. These indicators clearly show that the difficulty occurs in mathematics
and is not a spillover of any other disability, specifically a reading disorder. Some of
the symptoms described below would be present and visible to the adults in the
childs life but will need to be put together as a cluster of abilities or difficulties in
order to come up with the whole picture of what Dyscalculia may mean. The teachers
should ideally compile these as a checklist and when they suspect a student may have
a learning disability, they should use this in order to confirm or rule out the diagnosis
of Dyscalculia.
Symptoms / indicators for assessment of disability in math would include the
following:
Difficulty in sustaining attention to mathematical tasks, thus leaving
incomplete steps in a sum.
Inability to grasp and remember basic math concepts-rules, formulas,
sequences, and basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts.
 Poor long term memory of concept mastery- may remember the mathematical
facts on one day and completely forget the next day.
Difficulty with abstract concepts of time and direction. Inability to recall
schedules, and the sequences of past or future events. Unable to keep track of
time. May be chronically late.
May frequently lose place while solving a math sum.
Show signs of confusion when multiple steps are involved
Cannot manage all the demands of a complex problem, such as a word
problem, even thought he or she may know component facts and procedures
When the problems are caused due to visual-spatial difficulties the student
may not be able to write within the given boxes or space, may reverse the
direction of the digits and may be able to align the numbers thus creating
confusion for him/her self.
Impact of Dyscalculia
The consequence of having a disorder in mathematics has far reaching consequences and
is extremely debilitating than the other disabilities.
Since being proficient in mathematics is considered absolutely essential for
successful careers in most societies, failing at math stamps the student as a failure
at learning and often limits the avenues for future careers.
Since mathematics is a hierarchical subject, failing at math at an elementary or
basic level limits the students from advancing to higher levels in math.
Poor knowledge of mathematics may leave the student poorly equipped to deal
with the practical aspects in everyday life.

Diagnosing Dyscalculia
For a teacher to screen students who have dyscalculia it is important that she be familiar
with the diagnostic criteria.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders describes the diagnostic
criteria for a Mathematical Disorder as the following.
D. Mathematical ability, as measured by individually administered standardized
tests, is substantially below that expected given the persons chronological age,
measured intelligence, and age-appropriate education.
E. The disturbance in Criterion A significantly interferes with academic
achievement or activities of daily living that require mathematical ability.
 F. If a sensory deficit is present, the difficulties in mathematical ability are in
excess of those usually associated with it.

Testing in the classroom

In the classroom the teacher will come across many different ways to test and assess a
students knowledge, skills and application in mathematics. These are informal ways of
assessing mathematics and are often considered the best way for assessing mathematics.

Zigmond et al [1983] recommend a 12 step informal curriculum based assessment

strategy in mathematics that leads the teacher from the decision to assess to the
instruction based plan based on that assessment. These twelve steps are:
1. Decide what to assess
2. Select or develop a skill hierarchy
3. Decide where to begin
4. Select or develop survey instrument
5. Get ready to test
6. Administer the survey
7. Note errors and performance style
8. Analyze findings and summarize outcomes
9. Hypothesize reasons for errors and determine areas to probe
10. Probe
11. Complete record keeping forms and generate teaching objectives
12. Start teaching; update assessment information

The following are some of the ways that classroom teachers employ in order to
understand the level and point of difficulty in math:
Through daily drill work in mathematics the teachers observe students
working on math sums on a daily basis and they make observations regarding a
students performance
 Through frequent tests- these are given out at the end of each sub-topic as
formative assessments.
Explaining math to peers and teachers- the teacher can ask the student to teach
the rest of the class and observe how he or she explains the concepts to the other
students.
Through creation of situations that require the student to use the skills taught in
class for solving practical everyday problems.
Comparing the student on norms and against criteria to determine the severity of
the problem.
Analysis of the students work in terms of the errors that he makes- this unfurls
a pattern if a teacher is able to consistently complete the analysis over a period of
time.
Interviewing a student to check for problem solving skills and the use to
strategies while solving sums. This is an important technique to understand the
students thinking. Interviewing the child can help teachers determine how and
which strategies a child uses, how does he think in terms of mathematics and how
successful are these strategies and thinking processes.

Assessment at primary level in the classroom

Very often young students of the primary school have difficult with some of the basic and
essential concepts in math. It is important to establish informal knowledge of math at this
stage and this can be done through investigation of students informal adding strategies,
related enumeration activities and perhaps even counting of words. If there is difficulty in
even doing this much the teacher can explore even the more basic areas. Once an
Informal Competence has been established the teacher can make a test to evaluate the
following:
Addition calculations
Counting
Number facts
Adjusting or use of strategies for higher level or different types of problems
Subtraction
Evaluating the concepts of more-less, conservation
Representation of numbers
Number facts
 Calculations- mental and written
Problem solving

Some of the methods for keeping and maintaining records discussed earlier in the block
will apply to mathematics as well. These would include keeping portfolios, using rubrics
and checklists to evaluate strategies usage and thinking processes, Interviewing and
rating skills. Using self-assessment rating scales by students is another way to assess
math skills.

Questions for critical reflections

1. What are the diagnostic criteria as outlined by DSM IV for assessing Dyslexia,
Dysgraphia and Dyscalculia? [100 words]
2. what are some of symptoms that a student with Dyslexia is likely to display?
[100 words]
3. What signs should a class teacher look for when she suspects that a child may
have dysgraphia? [100 words]
4. How can a teacher assess a child for dyscalculia in the classroom? [100 words]

Summary
It is essential that a teacher should be able to assess the academic skills in the areas of
reading, writing and mathematics in order to make a strong case for further referral.
Children who have dyslexia have extreme difficulty in recognizing words or
comprehending what they read. They can be assessed through techniques like Informal
reading Inventory, running records, reading logs.
Children who have dysgraphia may have difficulty in any of the following: handwriting,
spellings, grammar, syntax and expression. The most effective way of assessing written
work is through portfolios, against a rubrics or checklists and by developing ones own
checklists and rating scales.
Children with Dyscalculia have a severe difficulty with math in using its symbols, doing
calculations and in solving mathematical problems. Test papers, interviewing to
understand thinking processes and through explaining a process to another student.
Activities 6
Choose a student from your school, who consistently been failing at academics and
prepare a testing tool for him/her in the domains of reading, writing and mathematics.
References
Reutzel, Dr. Ray, Cooter Jr, Robert B. [1992] Teaching children to Read, from Basals to
Books MacMillan Publishing Company
Gupta, Dr. Raj Kumari [2004] Mathematics for Special Children- A training Manual for
Elementary Teachers, Unistar books Pvt. Ltd
Clay, Marie M [1985] The early Detection of Reading Difficulties, 3rd Edition.
Athenaeum Press Ltd.
Hammill, Donald D, [1987] Assessing the Abilities and Instructional Needs of Students-
a Practical guide for Educators, Psychologists, Speech Pathologists and Diagnosticians
Pro-ed
Lerner, Janet W [1988] Learning Disabilities- Theories, Diagnosis and Teaching
Strategies
Every Child can Read- Strategies and Guidelines for Helping Struggling Readers by Jane
Baskwell and Paulette Whitman
Referral and Interpretation of Unit
reports 5
Ruchika Sachdev

Introduction
The classroom teacher is often the first to notice that a student is struggling with
academic skills and knowledge but she/he is definitely not the last person in the process
of identification. After using the various tools outlined in the block to screen students
with learning disabilities it is her job to take the process further and refer to professionals
who are trained to deal with the children with learning disabilities. The current unit will
acquaint the students with the next steps in the process so as to ensure that the student
gets the required services for assessment.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this unit you will be able to:

Identify the range of professionals that work with children with learning
disabilities
Be able to state what each Professionals role is in the assessment process
Differentiate between the various terms used in a report
Abstract the important information that a teacher would need to plan instruction,
from a report prepared by a professional
,

Referral
Referral is the initial request to consider a student for a special education evaluation.
It is usual for classroom teachers or parents to make the initial request. This is a follow up
of observations over a period of time and collection of initial impressions about the
students performance that causes concern. Once a student has been identified by the
classroom teacher as showing signs of learning disabilities, the process of referral is
begun. The stages through which the process is completed are as follows:

Classroom teachers identifies a student with learning difficulties

Classroom teacher carries out informal assessment

Teacher collects data regarding the student in question and does an analysis

Teacher consults school counselor for further testing

Student referred for assessment and report sought

Interpretation of report and provision of services

The process works with the school counselor referring the student for further testing once
the school is convinced about the need for conducting a formal assessment.
As we have seen earlier children with LD tend to have a break down in the learning
process. This may be in their attention, perception, memory, language, thinking and
reasoning. This in turn reflects as a discrepancy in their potential and actual achievement
in their academic learning. We have seen in the units on CBA and academic assessment
with regard to finding out the current level of functioning of these children. In addition to
the teacher, there are other professionals who help in assessing the break down in the
learning process as mentioned above. Let us briefly see their role in comprehensive
assessment for programming. (this content has been added to the original written
content)
The following are the professionals who may be involved in the further assessment.

Clinical psychologist
A clinical psychologist is a qualified psychologist with a atleast a Masters degree. in
Psychology. The job of clinical psychologist is to conduct psychological and
psychometric assessments once a student has been referred to him or her. The Clinical
Psychologist has the relevant qualifications and clinical training to administer, write a
report about and diagnose a child with learning disabilities.

School Counsellor
A school counselor is a person with a Masters degree in Psychology with a specialization
in school counseling or counselling. Usually all referrals in a school for learning
difficulties, behavior problems and social emotional issues are dealt with by the school
counselor, who further refers them out for assessment and extra support. He/she is
usually the interface between the school and the parents when the parents need to be
informed about the students issues, receives and interprets reports, conducts awareness
workshops, and leads the process of the formation of the IEP for the child with learning
disabilities.

Speech and Language therapist

A speech and language therapist is trained to assess and remediate speech and language
issues. He/she has the relevant clinical training to conduct these assessments, write
reports and make recommendations about the intervention programme.

Occupational therapist

It is the job of Occupational Therapy to provide intervention which will helps students
regain function, maintain level of functioning, or make accommodations for any deficits
they may be experiencing in areas of fine motor, visual motor and spatial domains. An
occupational therapist is trained to conduct assessment in all these areas and is usually
referred to for severe handwriting issues. The Occupational therapist conducts the
assessment, writes a report and makes recommendations for a intervention programmes
to improve handwriting.

Activities 7
Visit a clinic of an occupational therapist and find out how they assess students with
handwriting issues.

Special educators

Teachers with a degree in special education are trained to work with children with special
needs. There are even specializations within the field of special education for specific
disabilities like learning disabilities. Special educators are trained to design IEPs, conduct
informal assessments, identify children with disabilities, design intervention and deliver
the remedial programme to the children. Schools may employ special educators, or they
may work privately to help support children with disabilities.

Availability of services for children with Learning Disabilities

Once the process of assessment has been completed the multidisciplinary team of
professionals get together to plan the next steps. Some of the decisions taken by the team
include: compiling and sharing the reports from various professionals; making the
IEP[Individualized Education Programme]; placement decisions; monitoring and
reviewing of the plan. One of the most important decisions taken is about the placement
of the student in order to receive the support that he/she may require. The original
Cascade of Services as outlined by Deno looks something like this:
Activity 8: Conduct a survey in your area to find out how many schools have any of
the professionals discussed in the unit as their employees or have their contact numbers.

2.5.4 Interpretation of reports

Once a student has been through a formal assessment, the professional who has
conducted the assessment will prepare a report. This report has a number of sections
which are important for teachers to understand and can be used in planning interventions.
A report will have the following sections

1. Basic Information
This section includes the information like name, age, date of birth, date of testing, name
of school and the class in which the student is studying. This section immediately
establishes how long ago the assessment was conducted and who conducted the
assessment. Sometimes it contains the name of the person who has referred the student
for an assessment as well.

2. Reason for referral

This section states the reason for the assessment. It clearly says who referred the child
and why did they feel the need for referring the child for an assessment. It establishes the
people who have worked with the child and felt a need for further investigation.

3. Background information
This section provides details about the child, generally obtained through interviews with
the parents, the students and teachers and by studying the previous reports and records if
available. The assessor acquires this information through direct interviews or through
getting the concerned people to fill out checklists and questionnaires.

4. Names of tests administered

The assessor will list out the names of the tests that have been administered to the student.
This section tells the reader of the report at a glance what kind of formal measures were
used to arrive at the conclusions.

5. Observations of the assessor

The assessor records in great details his/her observations of the students over the number
of sessions that the assessment was conducted. The observations are pertaining to the
attention, motivation, behavior, effort towards the task and the general attitude towards
the testing situation.

6. Detailed discussion of the tests administered

This section is the most important aspect of the report. The assessor provides details of
the tests conducted, the abilities and skills that were tested and the results of the tests.
Connections are made between tests from different test batteries that may have been used
and how they contribute to the making of the whole picture of the child. This section will
describe the test, the way it was conducted, present tables of scores and the norms arrived
at.

Some common terms that a teacher may come across while interpreting a report are listed
in the following table. These are the types of scores that a teacher may come across may
include:
Mean Arithmetical average
Standard deviation Is a measure of how widely the scores vary from the
mean. The larger the standard deviation, the more spread
out the scores in the deviation.
Median Middle score in a group of scores
Mode Most frequently occurring score
Central tendency Typical score for a group of scores

Norms
Percentile rank scores
Grade equivalent scores
The percentile rank shows the percentage of students
in the norming sample that scored at or below a
particular raw score
These are generally obtained from separate norming
samples for each grade level.
Standard scores These are based on the standard deviation. A very
common standard deviation is called the Z score. A Z
score tells how many standard deviations above or
below the average a raw score is.

7. Summary and Diagnosis

This section summarizes and makes connections and draws conclusions on the basis
of the performance of the student on various tests. It also gives a diagnosis if there is
a conclusive one. This label will then establish the existence of a disability if it there.
Some of the examples given below will make this clearer.

8. Accommodations and Recommendations

This section outlines the accommodations or concessions that a child will require in case
there is a learning disability. The block 3 will provide the details of the concessions that
are available. It must be understood by the teachers that these concessions are not blanket
concessions, they dont apply to all disabilities. The assessor after careful consideration
decides on which concessions will work for which kind of disabilities.
The section also contains detailed recommendations for remediation. It provides
suggestions about how to intervene in the areas that have been identified as deficit areas.
Activity: Read a formal report of a student and prepare your own interpretation of the
report.

Questions for critical reflections

1. Describe the role of a school counselor in the process of assessment. [80 words]
2. How does a special educator help a child with learning disabilities? [50 ords]
3. Based on what you have studied in the previous units name and describe any tow tests
that a clinical psychologist will use?
4. How does an assessor establish the previous history of a child coming to him/her for an
assessment?
5. What is the importance of the last section of a report?

Summary
Identifying and screening a student with learning disabilities is only the beginning of the
process of assessment. Once the teacher has used all the informal means of arriving at a
definite conclusion that the student will require further testing, she/he takes the results to
the school counselor who then makes further referral to professionals who will conduct a
more formal assessment.
The various professionals involved in the assessment are clinical psychologist,
occupational therapist, speech and language therapist and special educator. Their roles
are crucial in the entire process of identification, screening and diagnosing. They also
play an important role in the formation of the IEP [to be discussed in the next block] and
the provision of services. The special educator or the classroom teacher is often
responsible for the monitoring of the students progress and staying in close touch with
the various members of the multi-disciplinary team.
Once the assessment has been conducted a report is prepared and shared with the
concerned people. The report has many sections from background information about the
child to the actual details about the test and the final concessions and recommendations
for intervention. This report then forms the basis of the formation of an IEP, management
and remediation discussed in the next block.
The interpretation of the report is also often a challenge for the classroom teacher, who
needs to understand the technical terms that are a part of the report and then follow the
recommendations that are given by the assessor in order to help the student. There are
many statistical terms and the scores that the teacher needs to be able to interpret. There
are also sections that explain the results in simple terms, which are of immense help to
the teacher while dealing with the student within the classroom situation.
The process that begins with identification and screening in the classroom comes right
back in to the hands of the classroom teacher through referral for a formal assessment,
actual assessment and diagnosis, preparation of an assessment report, interpretation in the
school set, formation of an IEP and the implementation of the IEP in the school.

References
Teaching children to Read, from Basals to Books by Dr. Ray Reutzel and Robert B.
Cooter Jr., MacMillan Publishing Company, 1992
Teacher observation in student assessment- Discussion paper prepared by Graham H
Maxwell, School of Education, University of Queensland.
Effective practice: Observation, Assessment and Planning- the early years foundation
stage
Educational Psychology, Ninth edition, by Anita Woolfolk, Pearson education Inc., 2006
Learning Disabilities- Theories, Diagnosis and Teaching Strategies by Janet W. Learner,
1888
Every Child can Read- Strategies and Guidelines for Helping Struggling Readers by Jane
Baskwell and Paulette Whitman
Assessing the Abilities and Instructional Needs of Students- a Practical guide for
Educators, Psychologists, Speech Pathologists and Diagnosticians by Donald D Hammill,
1987
The early Detection of Reading Difficulties, 3rd Edition by Marie M. Clay, 1985
Mathematics for Special Children- A training Manual for Elementary Teachers by Dr.
Raj Kumari Gupta

Internet resources
http://images.rbs.org/assessment/observation.shtml
: Assessment: direct observation
http://www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/assessment_direct.htm#ixzz1TeiofUum
http://www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/assessment_direct.htm
http://learningdisabilities.about.com
http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu
http://www.paulabliss.com/math.htm
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunderstoodminds/mathstrats.html