The
school year is about half over and assessment and progress monitoring are on
everyone’s mind. A colleague and I were just recently in San Diego leading a training
that included assessment, school teams are beginning to discuss upcoming spring
IEP meetings, and progress reports and report cards are on the horizon.
Recently, the itinerant teachers at Clarke’s east coast campuses were able to
meet via Skype and the topic of discussion? Assessment. While formal
assessments occur every three years for students on IEPs, ongoing monitoring
and less formal assessments are necessary in order to track progress, look for
gaps in knowledge and ensure that we continue to move our students forward.
There are many charts and tools, but below are a few of my favorites for
tracking auditory and self-advocacy skills. I hope you find them useful as
well!

Functional Auditory Performance Indicators(FAPI)

http://www.tsbvi.edu/attachments/FunctionalAuditoryPerformanceIndicators.pdf

The FAPI is an observation tool designed for use with young children and new
listeners. A variety of listening conditions are assessed in the areas of sound
awareness through linguistic auditory processing. I complete the FAPI with
input from the entire team for several reasons. Completing the FAPI together draws
the teacher’s attention to the variety of listening situations that I am
observing regularly, which helps the teacher think critically about the
development of auditory skills. There are always going to be aspects of the
school day that I do not see, so input from the teacher helps provide a
complete picture. It is also a nice way
to look at where the student is and where we want him or her to go, opening up
conversations regarding inclusion of auditory skill development in the
classroom.

Functional Listening Evaluation / Nonsense
Sentences

http://www.handsandvoices.org/articles/education/ed/func_listening_eval.html

Functional
Listening Evaluations show how students with hearing loss perform under a
variety of listening conditions. The link above from Hands & Voices
summarizes the objectives, materials and procedures. Specific training is
required in order to perform and report on Functional Listening Evaluations
correctly. Your local audiologist may be able to guide you in getting trained. While
Functional Listening Evaluations can be helpful in determining the potential
benefit from consistent use of FM systems, hearing aids, and cochlear implants
in the classroom, the evaluations require extensive training, practice, and
consistent collaboration with an audiologist. When a full listening evaluation
is not able to happen, the Nonsense Sentences can be used independently to help
create self-awareness. An excerpt from a Nonsense Sentences write up may look
something like this:

Cottage Acquisition Scales for Listening
Language and Speech (CASLLS)

http://www.sunshinecottage.org/index.php/educational_products/our_products/caslls/

The
CASLLS are my favorite way of analyzing expressive language! Tracking language
development from Pre-Verbal through Complex Sentences, the CASLLS can be used
with students at a variety of language levels, and progress can be documented easily
over time. I find it challenging to record language samples in writing, so I
give my student materials, ask the student to tell me a story and then video
tape while the student narrates. I’m then able to transcribe the language
sample and complete the appropriate level CASLLS.

Karen Anderson

http://successforkidswithhearingloss.com/building-skills-book

I’ve
mentioned Karen Anderson’s book in a previous post, but this is the go-to
source in our office for quick auditory and social scales.

Listening Inventory for Education- Revised
(LIFE-R)

http://lifer.successforkidswithhearingloss.com/

The
LIFE-R is an inventory completed by the student with hearing loss. I use the
LIFE-R to open discussions with my student around difficult listening
situations and also share with classroom teachers during consult time. For
students who are not able to read the questions, I read them aloud as well as
the choices.

Placement and Readiness Checklist (PARC)

http://www5.esc13.net/thescoop/deaf-ed/files/2011/12/PARC_2011.pdf

PARC
is a checklist that can be used during conversations regarding the most
appropriate placement for students with hearing loss when full-time mainstream
placement is in question. It looks at a variety of classroom skills and
situations and can support difficult placement discussions.

Minnesota Social Skills Checklist

http://www.clarkeschools.org/uploads/files/mainstreaming/Minnesota-Social-Skills-Checklist.pdf 

The
Minnesota Social Skills Checklist can be used with students with hearing loss
in preschool through high school and it looks at areas such as self-concept,
friendship, and pragmatics. This is another tool that can be used over time to
highlight areas of need as well as show progress.

A
related tool is the Minnesota Compensatory Skills Checklist which assesses the
students understanding of his hearing needs as well as advocacy and management
of amplification.

http://www.clarkeschools.org/uploads/files/mainstreaming/CompensatorySkillsChecklist.pdf

Teacher (or Parents) Evaluation of Aural /
Oral Performance of Children

TEACH:

http://outcomes.nal.gov.au/Assesments_Resources/TEACH%20ratings%20with%20coverpage%20260509.pdf

PEACH:

http://outcomes.nal.gov.au/Assesments_Resources/PEACH%20ratings%20with%20coverpage%20260509.pdf

The
TEACH and PEACH are tools developed in Australia that I like to use with
preschool children and early listeners. Teachers complete the TEACH and parents
complete the PEACH. As with other scales, I like to work with the team when
completing the TEACH and PEACH so that we can have conversations regarding our
observations and goals for the student. One of my favorite aspects is that they
are narrative which allows for open responses, there are no multiple choice
questions so they can seem less judgmental.