CEP 859 – June 12, 2008

1. CEP 859 – June 12, 2008 Assessments Fostering Language and Literacy Final Words

2. Assessment Practices • Assessment practices are varied by practitioner who employs their use • Everyone has their own preference as to which test to use for each domain • Example: K’s preferences for MET eval’s • Note – In this class we will be discussing the various psychological assessments that can/should be used for this unique population.

3. Assessment Practices • Why assess a child who is Deaf with Disabilities? • The first and foremost reason: To identify the child’s cognitive abilities in order to develop appropriate expectations and goals • Key words: • Appropriate – meaning child-specific • Expectations – meaning having them!!!

4. Assessment Practices • So after we evaluate with this huge battery of assessments, what is done with the results? • Use specific results to determine appropriate methods of instruction and therapy, specific to the child • Key words: • Appropriate • Methods – not necessarily curricula driven, but can be • Specific to the child - INDIVIDUALIZED

5. Assessment Practices • Assessment Procedures • 1. Testing is always done with an evaluator who is fluent in the child’s language • Let’s discuss this!!!  Reality versus best practice

6. Assessment Practices • 2. Scales of Intelligence for the Wee-Ones • Non-Verbal Subtests • Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-III) (age 2.6+)

7. Assessment Practices • Bayley Mental Scale • The Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID) measure the mental and motor development and test the behavior of infants from one to 42 months of age.

8. Assessment Practices • 3. For Preschool • CID Pre-School Performance Scale (PPS) • Tests non-verbal cognition • Manual Planning – Block Building, Montessori Cylinders, 2- Figure Board • Manual Dexterity – Buttons, Wallin Pegs • Form Perception – Decroly Pictures, Seguin Board • Perceptual/Motor Skills – Knox Cube, Drawing, Paper Folding • Preschool Skills – Color Sorting, Counting Sticks

9. Assessment Practices • Assessment for Preschool (2) through 20 • Leiter-R • Totally nonverbal and emphasizes fluid intelligence and is not significantly influenced by the level and quality of the child's educational, social, and family experience. • Minimizes physical manipulations and is un-timed

10. Assessment Practices • For Ages 6+ • 1. Leiter-R • 2. WISC – III (Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children – III) WISC-III subtests Verbal Tests: • Information: factual knowledge, long-term memory, recall. • Similarities: abstract reasoning, verbal categories and concepts. • Arithmetic: attention and concentration, numerical reasoning. • Vocabulary: language development, word knowledge, verbal fluency. • Comprehension: social and practical judgment, common sense. • (Digit Span): short-term auditory memory, concentration. Performance Subtests (visual and vocal / visual motor task): • Picture Completion: alertness to detail, visual discrimination. • Coding: visual-motor coordination, speed, concentration. • Picture Arrangement: planning, logical thinking, social knowledge. • Block Design: spatial analysis, abstract visual problem-solving. • Object Assembly: visual analysis and construction of objects. • (Symbol Search): visual-motor quickness, concentration, persistence. • (Mazes): fine motor coordination, planning, following directions.

11. Assessment Practices • 3. Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children – II (Luria – nonverbal) (CHC – mainstream cultural and language background) (Crystallized Ability = formal learned knowledge and informal learned knowledge – accumulated experience)

12. Assessment Practices • 4. TONI-3 (Test of Nonverbal Intelligence) • Norm-referenced measure of intelligence, aptitude, abstract reasoning, and problem solving that is completely free of the use of language. This test requires no reading, writing, speaking, or listening on the part of the test subject. It is completely nonverbal and largely motor-free, requiring only a point, nod, use of switch or symbolic gesture to indicate response choices.

13. Assessment Practices • Assessments for areas of disability will vary…speech, language, fine motor, gross motor, etc. • Intelligence tests need to be done, particularly within this population, to establish baseline cognitive ability data.

14. Changing Gears… Once assessments are complete and expectations are established, individualization must occur. • But what do we focus on throughout our days??? Language and Literacy Learning, of course!

15. Fostering Language and Literacy Learning Cambourne’s Eight Learning Conditions

16. Fostering Language and Literacy Learning • Cambourne…In Summary • The role of the teacher is a facilitator/guide • Teacher provides meaningful opportunities • Students explore, ponder and actively engage in learning • Through these learning activities, individualization as well as other learning can occur: • Speech • Social skills • Math • Science • Other discipline/content areas

17. Fostering Language and Literacy Learning Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory • Initial proposal of 7 intelligences • Linguistic -- to think in words and to use language • Mathematical-logical – logical and numerical patterns, reasoning and processes and #s • Musical –to think in musical tones and rhythmic units and to appreciate and produce • Bodily-kinesthetic – to think based on movements in their control and physical skills • Visual-spatial – to think in pictures and images as a result of their cognitive potential • Interpersonal –to notice others and make distinctions among them • Intrapersonal – individual’s self-awareness and reflection on inner self • Later proposal of 2 additional intelligences • Naturalistic – to recognize ad classify natural phenomena within the environment • Existential -- to raise and reflect on philosophical questions about life, death, and ultimate realities • This theory proposes that all individuals are born with the potential for each intelligence

18. Fostering Language and Literacy Learning Gardner’s Theory and Language & Literacy • Teachers use the intelligence theory to assess the strengths and needs of students • How? Interact with the child on their level in order to learn what he or she knows, enjoys, can do and how he or she engages with the world. • Then, assist team members as each develop, adapt and modify environments and instructional activities. • How? Communicate and collaborate with the team on a consistent and continuous basis. Teach others! • New concepts and language can be introduced and expanded by using a child’s strongest area of intelligence. • Enrichment activities can be provided using areas of intelligence where the child’s potential is not as developed

19. Fostering Language and Literacy Learning Association Method Anne Sullivan  • An oral deaf education approach • A systematic, phonetic and multi-sensory approach to increase to understanding of spoken language, improve articulation, co-articulation, speech fluency and teach reading and writing composition.

20. Fostering Language and Literacy Learning Principles of the Association Method • Receptive language learning follows expressive instruction and production…counter-intuitive, eh? • Incremental teaching – one small element at a time develop automaticity • Encourage success – if success is not achieved after time, the target is eliminated and reintroduced at a later time • Build on previously mastered material – Use only sounds the child has mastered to introduce nouns, then simple sentences • Written form accompanies all that is taught – Instruction is multi-sensory…read, write, speak, hear, move • Modification of rate of speech – Both the instructor and the student slow their rate of speech production when material is presented • Continued…

21. Fostering Language and Literacy Learning • All spoken items are associated with a visual symbol – Sound production is paired with the phonetic symbol for that sound, nouns are cued from pictures (Northhampton symbols…not IPA) • Complete recall is expected without teacher prompting – New material is introduced only when the student can produce material without any cue from the teacher • Structure, repetition and similarity are promoted in the child’s environment – ROUTINE creates less anxiety and more ability for focus, interaction and learning • Multi-Sensory teaching – Children are expected to say, read, listen, speech read and write all new material

22. Fostering Language and Literacy Learning So, what do you do in the Association Method? • Instructional Levels of the A.M. (Cumulative Skills)

23. Fostering Language and Literacy Learning Multi-Sensory Instruction • What is it? • Any learning activity that includes the use of two or more sensory modalities simultaneously to take in or express information • Some people call Multi-Sensory Instruction “Full-Spectrum Neurological Response” Instruction

24. Fostering Language and Literacy Learning Sensory Modalities Include: • Visual • Auditory • Tactile • Kinesthetic (movement) • Smell • Taste

25. Fostering Language and Literacy Learning Why is Multi-Sensory Instruction appropriate for language and literacy instruction for students who are deaf with disabilities? • Because we know that many of our students’ brains are ‘wired’ differently which allows them to learn in unique ways. Having this knowledge is power! • Teachers can then rely on multiple pathways for learning rather than focusing their energy on single, sometimes dead-ends! • Multi-Sensory Instruction will allow for better retention and utilization of learning

26. In Summary • Assessments are necessary to establish expectations and goals • Assessments are then used to create individualized plans • When we individualize, we should focus on language and literacy, then the various other pieces can and will fall into place • Various methods/curricula to enhance our teaching of language and literacy: • Cambourne Learning Conditions • Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences • Association Method • Multi-Sensory Instruction

27. Final Words To be a teacher of a child who is deaf with disabilities, you must actively seek what interests that child and take risks to find that information. You must interact with a child, on a one-to-one basis, to learn about this child and engage with this child. You must work with this child in an one-on-one setting. You must be the “chief communicator” within this child’s educational team. Lastly, parents rely on you! YOU! You are the professional who we look towards to “know it and do it all”. If you don’t know it or can’t do it, seek alternative resources for us! Ultimately, parents and teachers all want the same thing…for a child to ‘learn how to learn’ and to love doing it.