Assessment in Educational Therapy

Marion Marshall

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781000769937
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Behavioural Management

Assessment in Educational Therapy offers essential grounding, skills, and ethical approaches for understanding and conducting assessments in the context of educational therapy. Six clear, straightforward chapters guide graduate students and trainees of the field to use scores, observation, and hypothesis testing to create strengths-based assessments and intervention strategies that can be delivered orally or in written reports. The book is the first to describe and critique all the standardized assessment instruments that qualified educational therapists can use to measure skills in reading, written expression, mathematics, and processing. Real-world case studies, practical takeaways of key concepts, resources for self-study, reflective questions, and other readers' tools enliven this comprehensive yet accessible reference.

1 Introduction and Assessment in the Context of Educational Therapy

The Foundation

This chapter creates the foundation for thinking about assessment as it applies to educational therapists (ETs). I use the term “student” since my work has primarily been with elementary-aged children. If you work with a differently-aged population, substitute client as you read. I use the term “parents” generically. Please substitute guardian in your reading, if applicable. Myer et al. stated that:

Although tests can assist clinicians with case formulation and treatment recommendations, they are only tools. Tools do not think for themselves. Like a stethoscope, a blood pressure gauge, or an MRI scan, a test is a dumb tool—and the worth of the tool cannot be separated from the sophistication of the clinician who draws inferences from it and then communicates with clients and other professionals.

(Quoted in Schrank & Flanagan 2003: 126)

When I teach a graduate-level class in advanced assessment, I always ask small groups, “Why does one assess?” in the first class session. Typically, all are thinking of the initial, standardized assessments. Those who are training as special education teachers confer together and have their answers very quickly. Murmurs can be heard among that group, “What is taking them so long?” as the educational therapist candidates discuss and ponder the question.

From the special education teachers’ perspective there are only three reasons to assess: to determine eligibility for special education services, to measure whether annual Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) goals have been met, and to determine if the student remains qualified for services at the triannual review.

When a list of the class responses is written on the white board for all to view, ten to fifteen reasons emerge from the educational therapist candidates, beyond determining eligibility. Recently, the list included:

• Ascertaining actual skill levels.
• Establishing objective data about skills.
• Informing parents about “what is going on.”
• Identifying academic strengths and weaknesses in a variety of areas.
• As a means for understanding a complex student’s learning profile.
• Giving information that would allow parents to advocate for their child.
• Providing age-appropriate information that could allow a student to advocate for her/himself.
• Offering objective information that might empower the child and reduce stigma.
• Observing how a student perseveres through the challenging aspects of the tests.
• Individualizing future learning strategies.
• Identifying the need for accommodations and modifications.
• Helping the classroom teacher(s) understand and support the student better.
• Bonding with the student.

As the board fills with these responses, the murmuring from the special education teacher candidates becomes audible and full of disbelief, “No one does all that!”

Because ETs generally do not assess cognitive skills and, therefore, do not “determine eligibility,” especially in terms of the discrepancy model, assessment serves vastly different purposes and the types of assessment used may vary greatly from the standardized, formal assessment used in the public schools. Since public schools assess to determine eligibility for services, a qualifying, eligibility category “label” is required. Generally, ETs do not diagnose and, therefore do not apply a qualifying term. Rather, educational therapists describe.

There are many advantages to describing instead of diagnosing:

1. A qualifying “label,” such as a Specific Learning Disability, may reduce a student’s complex learning profile in an overly narrow way which may mask the overlapping and/or compounding learning issues.
2. A qualifying term is never strengths-based. It only emphasizes “what’s wrong,” which may lessen the family’s understanding for the need to take action.
3. A qualifying label may feel like a “death sentence” instead of providing a helpful and a more hopeful explanation. For example, dyscalculia is not an inherently descriptive term. A thoughtful description may lead to greater self-awareness. “Oh! I’m not dumb! I have good math problem solving skills but struggle with computation. If I really try to memorize those math facts …”

Meet “Cassie” in Chapters 3–6 to see how each aspect of assessment relates to her case.

So, why do ETs assess? That seems like a straightforward question, but how, when and why do ETs assess? Most agree that assessment should be purposeful. It ought to answer a set of questions. Some ETs conduct formal assessment for payment to answer referral questions. Few assess to determine eligibility for special education services. However, ETs assess regularly and at different points in working a case—to determine baseline skills of a new client, to set learning goals, to judge the learning accomplished within a session, and when reading a report from an allied professional that contains assessment data. Most ETs will do some level of assessment when preparing a written progress report—or when the report is informal and presented orally to a parent or guardian or in preparation for a meeting at the client’s school. There are many different types of assessment and each serves a different purpose.

Since assessment is conducted to answer questions, explicitly determining the questions to be answered will govern what assessments will be used. Further, it will establish whether the ET is qualified to answer the referral questions or whether one needs to refer to an allied professional (see Chapter 2 regarding the ethics of giving assessments for the ET). A vague referral question such as “My child’s teacher thinks she is behind” is neither adequate nor helpful. Nor does it give insight into whether the parent(s) have the same level of concern as the teacher.

It is critical to know when to start the assessment process. Often, time needs to be spent ascertaining whether the referral questions are shared by the parents also. If the primary driving force is the school or teacher(s), it is likely too soon to begin the assessment process. Conversations need to occur that will enable the parent to feel that answering questions now is a good idea. Or, if one parent is ready to have their student assessed, the other parent may be opposed. If the process is rushed, the findings may not be believed and the recommendations not carried out. I recall a father, “Ben,” sitting patiently through the initial public school IEP meeting but growing obviously restive as the meeting went on. When I asked why he seemed to be uncomfortable or frustrated, he exploded with, “My son can’t have anything wrong with him—he can play Tetris at Level 20!” Clearly, time should have spent helping this parent understand the teacher’s view about the child’s academic strengths and weakness before requesting and receiving written permission to conduct a formal assessment. (See Chapter 4 for strategies to develop a common understanding about the nature of the issues before you begin the assessment process.)

Since referral questions guide evaluations, it is imperative to elicit questions from all concerned parties. Different stakeholders may have different questions. Teachers and parents may have variant views. Each parent may have different concerns. Few things are more disappointing than spending hours assessing a student, scoring and analyzing the results and writing a detailed report, only to find that you failed to answer the essential question(s) because you did not identify them adequately. Early in my career as an ET, I was contacted by a mother who wished to have her 6th-grade daughter’s reading skills assessed. She was worried because “Camille” seemed to “skip over” many words as she was reading aloud. I was comfortable and confident in my ability to conduct a reading assessment. So, dates were scheduled and a fee was determined. Camille was cooperative and rapport was established easily. When I had concluded the assessment, scored the results, analyzed the findings and written a report, I was certain that I had relevant information to share.

A part of my assessment process is to “debrief” with the student as another way of confirming the assessment results (see Chapter 4). In our conversation at the end of the final assessment session, Camille readily agreed with my findings and as I began to draw the session to a close, she asked anxiously, “When are we going to do something about math?” I was perplexed. No one had said anything about her math skills being a concern. So, when I asked, Camille erupted with, “I’m falling behind! I don’t understand what my teacher is saying! I can’t do the homework! I need help in math!” Obviously, I had failed to elicit referral questions from all the stakeholders.

Understanding and identifying the referral questions is essential to providing effective assessment. “Why is my 2nd-grader struggling to learn to read?” is a separate question from “Is my child dyslexic?” and, “Why does my child read so slowly?” is completely different from “Why doesn’t my 5th-grader understand what she reads?” Each of those questions calls for the use of distinct assessment instruments or a separate set of measures.

Is There a Difference Between a Test and an Assessment?

In a public school setting, when a teacher says, “This student needs to be tested,” it is often a cry of frustration because the teacher has reached the limit of her understanding of how to help the child learn, to pay attention, or to retain previously studied concepts. The teacher is often seeking “testing” in hopes of gaining special education services for the student. But, administering a test or tests is different than conducting assessment. Testing is usually done to measure a specific skill, at one moment in time, to determine skill level or understanding of content. A weekly spelling test is given. A vocabulary test is given in Spanish II. An algebra test measures the student’s ability to solve quadratic equations. Classroom tests are useful to determine how an individual compares to the others in the group. They can be used as formative assessment to see whether the class is learning a concept, as a whole. If it is a key concept, it best not to move too quickly if the group does not demonstrate sufficient understanding. In this example, that exasperated teacher is seeking a formal assessment since she has conducted many measures of testing in her classroom.

Assessment in the Context of Educational Therapy

Assessment is much more than administering a set of instruments and obtaining scores. It is imperative to observe and note self-regulatory behaviors such as level of engagement, attention, sustained attention, mental energy, effort, and persistence. Also, one should note examples of strategic planning, problem-solving, and use of language. Assessment instruments, in and of themselves, are valuable tools but are not the sole answer. Your careful observations during the assessment process are essential and contribute to a better understanding of the student. Nancy Mather (quoted in Schrank & Flanagan 2003: 188) believes that “test results assist with judgment; they are not a substitute.” Most recognize that when they reach for an instrument (be it standardized or informal) to document a starting place for their work, they are conducting an assessment. A skilled assessor values the student’s approach to tasks, strategies, efficiency, and behaviors as much as the actual scores derived.

Assessment during a Session

The author wishes to broaden the ET’s, informal, definition of assessment. Assessment can also take place within each session. Be a curious observer of what is happening in each session. Constructive information can be gained by watching the student’s level of engagement, noting successes and recording errors to be analyzed later. Error analysis is conscientiously paying attention to the errors a student makes. It allows the ET to dig deeply into examining the patterns of strengths and weaknesses observed. Error analysis is an invaluable tool for the educational therapist. A single non-repeated error is not of great importance. Likely, the student is becoming fatigued or temporarily lost focus on the task. However, when a student creates a number of errors it is best to note them for analysis. Are they different types of errors? Is there a pattern to the errors? Is the repeated error a product of incomplete learning, a misconception, or partial learning applied too broadly? (Often the case in math.) For example:

1. The student adds the denominator in a fraction problem rather than finding the common denominator. [2/3 + 1/4 = 3/7]
2. When reading aloud, the student disregards the ending punctuation which changes the meaning of some sentences.
3. The student does not “double the final consonant” when adding a suffix to a word whose base contains a “short vowel.” [plan becomes planed instead of planned]

Thoughtful analysis may inform the ET about an instructional approach to address the error(s). Often, the reason for the error is not immediately discernable. In that case, hypothesis testing may produce the answer. Ask yourself, “What variable can I change in my instruction to see if the error disappears?” “What questions can I ask to hear what the student’s approach is?” Asking the student to “think aloud” while working can be another useful tool. “Pretend I am your friend who was absent yesterday. How did your teacher tell the class to solve this problem?” Task analysis within each session is extremely valuable. Think about the task itself and the underlying requirements in perf...