The information gathered during first contacts with the family determines the focus of the evaluation and/or assessment and the composition of the team. The family is provided information on the evaluation and assessment process and assists in planning all components of the evaluation and assessment (who, what, when, where, how, etc.). It is then the role of the service coordinator to invite providers to assist with the evaluation and assessment and serve on the IFSP team based on the gathered information.
The evaluation and assessment process builds on the concept of early intervention in everyday routines, activities and places introduced to the family during intake/first contacts. Evaluation and assessment must include opportunities to observe the child in typical routines in order to combine developmental information with functional application information. A consistent, collaborative team that conducts the evaluation and assessment concurrently, in one encounter is strongly encouraged.
Evaluation and assessment are conducted for two different purposes. The purpose of the evaluation is to confirm eligibility for early intervention services by expeditiously determining the child's level of functioning in all the required developmental domains. The focus of assessment is on intervention planning that identifies the child's unique strengths and needs in terms of overall development and his/her functioning in the context of everyday routines, activities, and places.
Each evaluation/assessment team will conduct an arena style assessment in which members of the team are involved in planning based on information received from first contacts and other available information. An arena assessment is a planned observation process which typically involves a facilitator, who serves as the primary contact with the child and family during the assessment process; another team member who may serve as a coach to support the facilitator, provide cues for missed items, or reflects on what could be done to enhance the assessment. The arena style assessment may also include one or more observers who represent different disciplines and serve as the "eyes and ears" and contribute expertise from a variety of backgrounds and training. The family participates as additional evaluators, observers, and contributors (Berman & Shaw, 1996).
This approach allows all team members to be involved in planning the assessment and observing the child in the assessment setting. The child interacts with just one adult rather than all members of the assessment team. Arena style assessment allows for an interactive and integrated process across domains to get a holistic picture of the child.
A consistent, collaborative team that conducts the evaluation and assessment concurrently, in one encounter is strongly encouraged. Conducting the evaluation/ assessment in this way:
is more convenient to the family
allows for sufficient time to complete all activities within the 45 day timeframe between referral and development of the IFSP.
If the evaluation and assessment cannot be conducted concurrently, it is still preferable that the team conducting the assessment be the same as the evaluation team.
The Evaluation and Assessment Flow illustrates the evaluation and assessment process beginning with first contacts and continuing through IFSP development. To learn more about the Early Steps policies and team activities for evaluation and assessment click on the Conduct Norm Referenced Evaluation to Establish Eligibility box and the Conduct Developmental Assessment for Intervention Planning box in the flow chart. Please note that questions from the information in these documents may appear on the module exam or the final cumulative exam.
