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How do we truly assess student knowledge?

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It’s spring, which means it’s time for end of year assessments in schools all across the country. This year, I’m making no exception for Joey.

Typically, I’m constantly assessing Joey’s skills throughout our sessions so that I can plan our next activities to target what he’s ready to learn next. This spring, since Joey is going into kindergarten in the fall, I thought it was time to get some hard data on more isolated academic skills.

Assessing Joey is difficult merely because of his difficulties with his gross motor movements. He is unable to easily answer me verbally during an oral assessment, he is unable to hold a pencil to draw a picture of what he’s thinking, or circle a letter on a page. Even when we ask him to use the eye gaze, he has difficulty selecting his intended icon, and can take multiple tries before he finally lands on the desired button. So while many kids could fly through the assessment activities and be done with them, it’s a more arduous task for Joey.

And yet – it’s Joey, and his never-give-up personality, mixed with his I-love-a-challenge spirit somehow made the assessments seem like no big deal. In fact, when I began assessing his letter knowledge by holding up two different letters and asking him to look at a specific one, he decided this was too easy. He turned away from my hand-written letters and went into the keyboard on his device – the QWERTY keyboard with all 26 letters and 10 numbers. He used that to find each letter I asked. Who needs silly index cards?

And that pesky problem with not always hitting the correct button? Joey doesn’t stop trying until he’s selected the right one. Then he selects that one twice, stops, and looks at me, smiling. Once we got into a rhythm it was easy to tell when he knew the letter and was just hitting the wrong button because he was hitting each button around the one he wanted. Sure, there were times when he selected a series of letters all over the keyboard. Those times I knew he wasn’t sure what the letter was and was just guessing.

So what does Joey know? So far I’ve only had a chance to assess letter name and sound knowledge.

He knows almost all of his letters names, but sometimes get confused with the B, F, and K. See how they look similar – they each of something in the middle of the straight back stick?

He knows 21 out of 26 of his letter sounds (assessed by saying the sound and asking him to select which letter makes that sound).

When given a word and a picture and asked to identify the first letter of that word, Joey was able to do this for all letters except X.

All these skills are right on track for a typically developing beginning kindergartener. I don’t think any of us are surprised, because Joey shows us almost every day how quickly he learns and picks up on information. Now we need to figure out how best for Joey to continue to learn and show the world what he can do.

Age Appropriate Humor – (Giggling about poop)

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    In my day to day life, I spend a lot of time with the four to eight year old crowd. And I have to tell you, despite what you may think about gender differences, or good parenting, or what is proper dinner conversation – poop – and all things poop and fart related, are universally funny to this age bracket.

Joey, I recently learned, is no exception.

Poop was apparently recently added to his device. When I watch Joey use new words I monitor to see if he’s using them appropriately. Is he just selecting the word to see what it says, or does he know what it will say before he selects it? Is he able to use it correctly with conversation or to answer a question? Is it a word he likes because of how it sounds but not because of what it  means?

When Joey used poop for the first time with me, I’m pretty sure he knew exactly what he was saying. It was in the midst of asking him to do talk about something else. He’d answered me – begrudgingly – and then he nonchalantly said “Poop.” and grinned, as all five year olds will do when they know they are putting their toe over the line to see what happens if you cross it.

Poop.

Now, in my house, I have the rule that bathroom words can be used in the bathroom, so if you feel the need to scream “poop” at the top of your lungs, you’d better do it in the bathroom. (Unless we are at dinner, in which case then you can whisper it and we’d better not be able to hear it.) My kids can also find times to whisper inappropriate words like poop and fart at times when adults aren’t around. I’ve had lunch with my daughter at school. I know the horrors of first grade lunch and the jokes they find funny.

Joey doesn’t have the luxury of whispering the word ‘poop’ to a friend and then snickering devilishly while a teacher gives him the evil eye. Yet he clearly does find it funny, and wants to giggle about it on his level.

Often, we tend to teach children with disabilities the “proper manners and social expectations of an elite society none of us actually engage in. We fail to let them have those moments of age appropriate behavior with peers.

It’s a hard balance to find because, of course, we don’t want to tell kids it’s OK to say poop and fart at random times. We don’t want them saying “poop” in church. But we also want them to know it’s OK to laugh (at appropriate times) at things they find funny.

My current solution? I’m not going to engage Joey in poop jokes, but I did find a book about a dirty dog who gets ridiculously filthy – and eludes to poop. Hopefully, it provides a safe context to laugh and explore the silliness of the word – and an opportunity to discuss when it is OK and not OK to say poop.

*The other day Joey said “nasty hears funny” to me. I’m pretty sure he was saying that nasty sounds funny since he doesn’t have the word sounds on his device. Nasty does sound funny, especially when said in a child-like robot voice.

The Importance of Peers

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When I arrived at Joey’s house a few Fridays ago, I was thrilled to find his seven year old cousin there with him. She could only stay for about ten minutes of our session, but it was one of the best, most targeted ten minutes I’ve seen from Joey.

Typically, when I first begin to work with Joey each session, he fills me in on random parts of his week. Sometimes I introduce a topic and he changes the subject to a preferred topic, or if he is really bored with me, he might begin exploring his words. I live with a five year old at my house, so while these behaviors are frustrating, I’m also 100% sure they are age appropriate. I find myself giving Joey reminders to stay on topic like I would with any five year old, or reminders that we can talk more after we do our work first.

On this Friday however, in the presence of his cousin, Joey needed no reminders. He was alert, engaged, and on topic. I asked “wh” questions like “who is in the story?” “where does the bear live?” “when does this take place?” and Joey quickly gave me answers. He had a few mis-hits in trying to find the correct word, but he stuck with it to show his cousin what he knew. Changing the subject suddenly did not seem as interesting as sharing his ideas with the two of us.

Even after his cousin left, Joey remained on point. He was quick to share jokes about books we read, and to add “funny” or “silly” after he told me a joke. I think he throws those words in to make sure I know he’s joking and not just clicking on the wrong buttons.

It was wonderful to see Joey so motivated to participate and talk with his cousin. I was also happy to be able to share Joey’s insights and ideas with her. For many kids (let’s be honest – and adults), it can be hard to understand that a child who does not speak has something to say. We can be quick to make assumptions. I watched Joey answer my “wh” questions through her eyes – and hoped that she was impressed as I was with his ability to navigate his words and talk about the story in a way I’d expect any five year old to do. His answers might not have been as robust as a talkative five year old, but my questions are the same.

I need to find more opportunities to include other children in my work with Joey to encourage his motivation and give him the experience of interacting with children his own age. Talking and playing with a peer is far more interesting than having one on one conversations with a boring adult.

Choosing a Language? What’s the best AAC system to use?

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Most of our parents don’t have to choose a language for us. We are automatically immersed in the language of our community, and that becomes the language we will take on as our own. We’ll use our parents’ words to communicate our wants and needs, socially connect, share ideas, and tell jokes. We may choose to learn another language, but our baseline communication is based on those around us.

For students who have difficulty accessing their community’s communication methods, their families are often left with choices. Families are left with decisions of how their child will access language, what methods the child will use, and who that child will be able to interact with while accessing that language.

Choosing to use an AAC device can be hard enough for a family, and then families and student teams are left to figure out which device or method is best for the particular child. While the amount of technology out there gives us choices, it also leaves us with some pretty open questions about what’s best for each individual child.

Joey’s team is exploring the options other AAC devices can offer. He has been using LAMP’s (Language Acquisition through Motor Planning) Unity system for over two years now, and is doing well with it. However, there are others out there, and as a team we can’t help but wonder – would another system give him more opportunities? Would it be easier? Is there something we are missing?

One unexpected observation we have found is that the use of specific AAC devices appears to be regional. School districts and private speech pathologists recommend what they are comfortable with to parents, and the more those devices are used, the more comfortable the practitioners become. In truth, I am far more comfortable with LAMP than others, because that’s what most of the schools around here recommend. Other regions and school districts lean towards other models.

We spend time exploring another system the other day. Joey adapted to it quite quickly, and was able to rapidly sort through the pages of words and choose phrases and topics to share about. The pictures were clearer to interpret, and it seems to be easier for the communication partners to go in and make changes and fix issues. At the same time, it seems to allow for less long term language learning and independence. LAMP seems to be more difficult up front to learn, but once he has an understanding of where the words are, he can say anything. We think. How do we know? There are big questions here, as well as smaller ones, all going unanswered. If something would be better for him to express himself, should he switch? Are there long term consequences?

Joey has a big team, and together I believe everyone will consider the facts and make the best determination for him. And of course, there is always directly asking Joey himself, who is able to share opinions with us, and has his own thoughts and ideas over his words.  For any of you struggling with these decisions yourself, I stumbled upon this packet of information. https://ilc.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/AAC-Language-Representation-How-Do-You-Choose1.pdf

 

The Power of the Baby Animal Book

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Over my 16 years as an educator I’ve learned one valuable lesson: Never underestimate the power of a cute baby animal. This has proved true for working with angry five year olds who have difficulty regulating their emotions (somehow looking at pictures of baby animals can sometimes immediately cause a child to relax).

So a few years ago when I saw a Ready to Read pack of Zoo Born books I immediately grabbed it because I figured at some point there would be a student who would want to read them, or just look at the pictures.

Lately, when I’ve been preparing Joey’s book crates I’ve been including a Zoo Born book or two into the box to add variety to our work. I quickly found that Joey really enjoys looking at cute baby zoo animals as much as all the other five year olds out there. Who wouldn’t?

The books are super simple with a set pattern – four to five sentences on the left hand page, and one repeated phrase on the right. They are perfect for early readers because the adult can read the left hand page and then the child can read the repeated phrase “Goodnight Baby Owl” or “I love you, Baby Panda!”

For Joey, these have been perfect. They allow us to look through and talk about the pictures with his AAC device. What does he see? Is the animal cute? Small? Silly? Furry? Soft? Many of the animals are in his vocabulary, so I can turn the page and he can tell me what he sees and describe it for me. Then, I can read the left hand page and pause so he can use his early reading skills to read the right hand page. I model putting together at least part of the sentence on his device the first time so he knows what I expect him to do, and has a reminder of where the words are. The next time I come to a repeated phrase, I pause and say, “You read!” He doesn’t have all the words to complete the full phrases, but he is able to put together at least part of it. “Love you Panda!” “Good night Owl”.

For our newest five year old readers we want them to begin to understand that print goes from left to right, the words contain a message, and words maintaining their meaning across each page – the group of letters – LOVE – says love on each page. These are the early reading concepts pre-kindergarteners are exploring right now, and Joey seems to be ready for this work as well. The Zoo Born series allows us to enjoy talking about books and cute animals, practice his core words, and build on his early literacy skills. And who doesn’t want to gaze at pictures of sleeping panda babies?

 

Somewhat related – I was listening to the podcast Wow in the World with my own kids and learned about the universal reaction to looking at cute animals. See, it’s a thing!

Saturday Serenade

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