Testing and assessment practices for school-aged disabled individuals

¶ … Testing and Assessment

ASSESSEMENT IN COUNSELING RCE530

There have been a number of recent studies that have been done on testing and assessment, and they have focused on various populations. Many of them have been focused on populations of various individuals in schools, since schools seem to be the largest area where a great deal of testing and assessment takes place. For this reason, this particular paper will focus on school testing and assessment, but will also look at the disability population in schools, since this is somewhat more significant than the school population in general.

Where schools are concerned, especially when it comes to testing and assessment of those that have a disability, care must be taken to ensure that issues and other sensitive concerns are handled properly and with tact. Some of the trends that have taken place recently in testing have affected this population, and it is therefore pertinent that these trends be discussed. The history of testing and assessment is also important, however, because those that study this issue must be aware not only of what is going on now but of what has gone on before as well, in order to really understand the changes that have occurred.

The population that will be dealt with here in this paper must be discussed more thoroughly so that readers will be aware of exactly who this research will likely discuss and therefore who it might also benefit. Without being aware of the main focus of the research, confusion can arise. Reviewing the literature will also be very important, so that understanding can come from what has been done in the past and what has been done somewhat more recently. Both of these areas are significant when it comes to realizing what kinds of testing and assessment practices have been taking place with this specific population. Lastly, what kinds of implications are made to the rehabilitation field is also a significant area of concern, because there is no real point to reviewing an issue and discussing it if there is no further dealings with the importance of it and how it will impact the population that has been studied or discussed. This is why making recommendations and discussing applications when it comes to the rehabilitation field has so much importance for this study.

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Reviewing the literature is significant and important for any study, as there is much that can be learned from examining the work of others and determining how it still applies to what is being done today, or how much things have changed and new ideas and abilities have been discovered since the other work was created. For this study, 12 articles or other informational writings have been examined and will be dealt with, so that an understanding of where this issue began and what has happened to it recently can be seen.

Functional assessment is the term that is generally used for the testing that is designed for school-aged children, especially where disabilities are concerned. There have been a number of articles written on the issue for school psychologists (Daly, Witt, Martens, & Dool, 1997; Kratochwill, Sheridan, Carlson, & Lasecki, 1999). Overall, functional assessment involves the collection of data. This collection allows for generating hypotheses regarding particular behaviors and the consequences that come from these behaviors. When this is done, the data that is analyzed can be used as a basis so that various interventions can be developed. This is important, as many of these interventions are not done because of something that a child is doing wrong, but simply because that child has a disability that makes learning in the same way that other learn more difficult. The interventions that are used help that child to learn more easily and appropriately.

Despite the importance of and focus on functional assessment, however, there is some concern that the term itself may be rather ambiguous, and therefore that it is not something that can be explained with enough clarity to give it a specific definition (Cone, 1997). Often, the functional assessment term is used in a synonymous way with 'functional analysis' although Cone (1997) does not feel that this is accurate, and that functional assessment should be used when discussing the formulation of hypotheses, whereas functional analysis should be used when discussing the ways that these hypotheses are tested and validated.

For many years, functional assessment has been used by those that analyze behavior (Bijou, Peterson, & Ault, 1968; Carr & Durand, 1985; Iwata et al., 1982/1994; Skinner, 1957). Studies into the issue also show that many school problems, even mental disabilities that are considered severe, can be treated effectively by utilizing functional assessment (Lalli, Browder, Mace, & Brown, 1993; Mace, Lalli, & Lalli, 1991; Repp & Karsh, 1994). Functional assessment can also be used to treat problems with emotions, communication, and learning (Dunlap, et al., 1993; Dunlap, Kern-Dunlap, Clarke, & Robbins, 1991), another behaviors that involve disruptive disorders in many individuals (Northup, et al., 1995).

Because of the results that have been seen in many of these studies, various researchers and others have agreed that functional assessment may actually be much more valuable than many traditional school-based or psychiatric diagnostic procedures (Kratochwill & McGivern, 1996; Zentall & Javorsky, 1995). Naturally, this is quite significant, since many of these psychiatric and school-based procedures have been around for a very long time and they have long been considered to be the best available methods for discovering what is needed when it comes to interventions for these students.

The interest that has been generated in functional assessment is not something that is new in psychological circles. However, the interest in it was intensified greatly around 1997 because of amendments that were made to the Individuals with Disabilities Act. These particular amendments mandated that personnel at schools conduct functional assessments on any students that had behavioral problems which resulted in being expelled or dismissed, and that these assessments then be used to look for likely interventions that could help these students and others like them. Schools are also required to deal with in-service training of all of their personnel in ways that have a direct relationship to these functional assessment techniques.

There are many different ways to carry out a functional assessment, however, and the ideas that were created by researchers into the issue are subject to interpretation by the person carrying out the assessment. It is also important to note that the amendments that were made to the Act in 1997 did not specify what kind of functional assessment should be carried out or provide any kind of guidelines when it comes to the issue. Looking at the literature of others shows that there are limitations with functional assessment, including the way that disciplinary problems are handled and the willingness and ability of personnel at various schools to conduct that kind of functional assessment (Cone, 1997; Nelson, Roberts, Rutherford, Mathur, & Aaroe, 1999).

Cone (1997) shows that there are many different issues that surround the application of functional assessments, and that these include distinctions in terminology, how adequate the actual assessment methods are, the difficulties that can potentially come from teaching personnel to conduct functional assessments, and other significant issues. Consistent with the work done by Cone (1997), other studies that are more recent have shown that most administrators in special education and most psychologists that work in schools support the use of functional assessment techniques, but that many of them are uncertain as to the value that these assessments really have when dealing with the creation of interventions for students that are high on the problem-behavior scale, as well as those that cause less difficulties (Nelson, Roberts, Rutherford, Mathur, & Aaroe, 1999).

Nelson et al., (1999) also raise the questions as to whether personnel at many schools are willing to use this assessment technique, whether they are capable of using it properly, and whether the concept of functional assessment in actually used correctly where interventions are concerned. Many different conceptual articles have raised this issue (Cone, 1997; Nelson, Roberts, Mathur, & Rutherford, 1999). Naturally, not all of the research findings that are discussed will correlate with everything that is being done by professionals, and so opinions differ on the issue to some extent. However, there is a great deal of literature that focuses on or addresses to some extent the issue of functional assessment, and much of the literature that is available provides one of the most common and best suited means for making a determination as to whether functional assessment has a great degree of value, not just from an empirical standpoint but from the standpoint of those that work in the field as well. It is important to study both research that has been done and also whether functional assessment seems to work well in the field.

There have been several reviews of functional assessments that have been conducted in school settings (Blakeslee, Sugai, & Gruba, 1994; Dunlap & Childs, 1996; Lane, Umbreit, & Beebe-Frankenburger, 1999; Nelson, Roberts, Mathur, & Rutherford, 1999). As an example, Nelson, Roberts, Mathur, and Rutherford (1999) reviewed 97 other studies that dealt with functional assessment. Information was taken from these studies that appeared in various different journals and involved 23 school-based studies. These studies were all conducted and the findings published from 1989 to 1997. However, no truly comprehensive review of functional assessment studies based on schools has actually appeared. This makes it unclear as to whether many of the conclusions that were based on selected studies would still be valid if all of the school-based studies that were available were to be considered. This would have to include the studies that appeared in psychological journals that revolved around school psychology.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND APPLICATIONS TO THE FIELD OF REHABILITATION

Applying this issue to the field of rehabilitation is very important for several reasons. When students have behavioral or other discipline problems, the reasons are often unclear. Sometimes, these problems stem from learning disabilities and other mental issues that can be dealt with in various ways. This emphatically does not mean that every individual that has problems in school and is disciplined for it has mental retardation, cognitive impairment, or some other problem that makes it understandable that they would act out and cause problems. Students that are just troublemakers are out there in every school, and many of these students are very intelligent. Some of them act out simply out of boredom, while others feel the need to fit in and therefore want the attention that being a troublemaker often gets them. This may be especially true if these individuals do not get the attention that they need from their parents or other caregivers.

However, for all of those students that act out simply because they can, there are also students that do not seem to be able to help this unruly and unwelcome behavior. Many of these students have cognitive impairments or other problems that stop them from performing in the way that they should. Sometimes they will act out because they are frustrated and unhappy due to these problems, and sometimes they are simply incapable of doing anything else, at least with the techniques and understanding that they currently have. Despite this, however, there are many of these impaired students that are disciplined instead of understood, and this is something that can be changed through intervention and rehabilitation for many of these individuals. When they are made to feel comfortable and understand their own abilities, their 'bad' behavior will likely be lessened.

This is important, but it must be gone about in the right way. when it is not, there are often more problems caused than there were in the first place, and this can make it much more difficult for the students, the teachers, and the parents and siblings as well. Having a child with a handicap or mental problem is often already very stressful for parents, especially if the mental handicap is so severe that the child will never be able to live on their own, hold a job, or have any kind of a normal life. Many years ago, most individuals with cognitive impairment were thought to be this way. However, advances in learning and understanding when it comes to mental health issues have shown that this is quite often not the case.

Instead, many of these individuals who were largely seen as 'hopeless' before can do many different things on their own - but there are specific ways that they must be taught, because they learn differently from everyone else, and there are certain concepts and ideas that many of them may never be able to actually grasp with clarity and understanding. They must have intervention in their schooling and in many other aspects of their life, and they must be 'rehabilitated.' Naturally, these individuals will only be able to progress to a certain level. Those that are born with mental impairments are never going to be the same as those that are born without any mental difficulties. This does not mean, however, that these people should be given up on or that they will not be able to be useful and productive members of society in most cases. In other words, they will be able to do much more than was previously thought if they are taught in the proper way.

As for what this means to the field of rehabilitation, it means that there are different ways of looking at the issue and that understanding is something that is very strongly needed. Not every child with a mental impairment can be taught everything that he or she needs to know, but many of those that have only mind impairment are able, with proper training and teaching skills, to be worked into classes that have 'normal' children in them, and they are able to keep up with their peers and do the work that is assigned to them. This gives them extra confidence in their abilities to be productive and amount to something, and this extra confidence will also help them to excel in everything that they do. In order for them to do this, however, they must have a functional assessment and the areas that they need help in must be worked on.

For those that work in the rehabilitation of these individuals or work with interventions concerning them, an understanding of what the individual can do is often more important than focusing on what that individual cannot do. If only the negatives are looked at, the individual with the impairment or disability will not be pushed to reach their limits and try to go beyond them, because the individual doing the rehabilitation or intervention will not try to have the child work up to and possible beyond what it is believed that he or she cannot do. If these limits are pushed, gently, it will likely quite often be found that the child is able to do much more than was previously thought, and this will not only help the child, but will help the caregivers with the understanding that there is more capability in the child - and perhaps in other children as well - than was previously thought.

This idea that one can do more than one is assumed to be capable of is very important for children and adults alike, especially those that have disabilities of one kind of another. Care must be taken, however, not to push too hard or too far, since that can lead to the finding of many things that the individual actually cannot do, and will likely never be able to do. This can lead to discouragement, anger, and the 'acting out' behavior that needs to be avoided if possible and lessened if it cannot be avoided. By focusing on what the child can do and gently pushing those limits, much more can be accomplished and confidence can be built in individuals that likely need that confidence much more than the average person.