The Question of Diagnostic Assessments Albert Einstein once stated: “Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Einstein’s challenge calls for parents, educators, and all others who work with special needs children to view these precious lives as more than the problems they present. A child with special needs deserves the opportunity to achieve to his fullest potential by having his caregivers take the needed steps to evaluate and diagnose possible causes and solutions through either formal or informal assessments. In Simply Classical, author Cheryl Swope expresses her desire to see diagnostic assessments used in helping special needs children. …show more content…
Concerned educators, for example, will daily do an informal assessment by watching for and monitoring any warning signs of possible disabilities that a child may have. While not condemning formal assessments, Swope admits that we are living “in an age of overreliance on the ‘expert’.” Even without professional training, she agrees, a self-educated individual can quite easily perform an assessment of a child’s disabilities and make wise choices with how to help (119). To not offer remedial help to a child who has not had a formal assessment can easily cause a child to miss vital remedial assistance. Informal assessments can be a key to change to positive change. A formal assessment by a trained professional, though, gives opportunities that an informal assessment does not. With the guidance of a trained and knowledgeable professional, a new realm of knowledge and information is made available. Instead of stumbling along, using trial and error to try to help an undiagnosed special needs child, a formally assessed child can benefit from aid techniques and resources that could otherwise remain unknown. A formal assessment could ultimately be the method of raising a child from a mediocre level of success to an exciting world of new …show more content…
Even though it seems that in so many places “labeling” has become the latest craze and “excuse bandage” to cover up deeper problems, I believe that we are hurting children when we refuse to perform an assessment on their needs. I personally feel have been “labeled” because I have been diabetes. If it would not be for this “label”, I would be dead today. So, why do we so often allow children with special needs to “die” in a perceived effort to help them? I have worked with a number of children and have witnessed the power that a diagnosis can have on children and the people around them. It has been beautiful to witness other people, such as fellow students and even church members, gain a deeper respect for a child and his family when they realize that there is more than just misbehaviour and a lack of discipline in the home. But, I have also experienced it from the other side. My oldest nephew, who is really close to me, has been struggling in school. It has got to the point that they his teachers and parents feel it is time to start investigating further to see what could be the problem. I thought I cared about the feelings of the child and parents when I worked with my student’s needs in the past, but this case puts a different perspective on how I feel about formal assessments. Still, this does not change my belief in the power to bring positive change to a child
This report aims to recognize the contemporary statutory framework for identifying and working with children with Special Education Needs and Disability in England (The SEND Code Of Practice). The report will pay particular interest in discussing the key elements which derives from the 2014 Children and Families Act practiced in relation to the Department for Education (DfE). The report will pry into the current changes of the SEND code of practice, its assessment framework, why these have been introduced and who these changes makes a difference to. To discuss this the report will be looking at a variety of sources to better understand the most important details also includes but not limited to newspaper report, recent research papers,
Hitchcock, C., Meyer, A., Rose, D., & Jackson, R. (2002). Providing new access to the general curriculum. Exceptional Children, 35(2), 8–17.
Ludwig van Beethoven, I love to listen to his symphonies. It feels me better and refresh. The traditional objectivity of structure, amicability, shape, melodic advancement and coordination traverse into open-finished plausibility. I listened to Beethoven symphony works and have some notes for these symphonies.
Research carried out by Ofsted (2011) shows that, assessment improved a practitioner’s awareness of a child’s strengths and weaknesses. Subsequently, this had a positive influence on their planning, as they were able to differentiate and offer adequate support for children. Ofsted believes it to be the best way to improve pupil’s attainment (Ofsted, 2011).
I have always had a keen interest in observing children as they play and learn and using the observations to support the child’s growth. This is partly based on my past professional experiences and observations of my own children. I believe that my other strength in assessment is in analyzing data and using the data to make decisions. While I feel, this area is a strength, my exposure to the vast array of assessment tools used to support student learning has been
Puckett, M., & Black, J. (2008). Meaningful assessments of the young child. (3th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
Pierangelo, R. A., & Giuliani, G. A. (2013). Assessment in special education: A practical approach. (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
The Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 was composed by Beethoven and was completed in
Lerner, J W., Lowenthal, B, & Egan, R W. (2003). Preschool children with special needs (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon Publishing.
The goal of education is to provide children with the opportunity to amass a wealth of knowledge, love for learning, and academic strength. Children go to school to read, write, and learn a variety of subjects. While education is meant to be exciting for children, there have to be standards in order to make sure that progress is being and those children are where they need to be in order to move onto the next phase of their education. Education builds as it grows, and students need a strong foundation in order to succeed and continue. Without those strong building blocks, students will continue to fall back and repeat the same material again and again. And so, testing and assessment come into play to make sure children are where they need to be. However, in early childhood settings testing is almost non-existent because of the stigma around testing. The current debate in our education system argues that testing is not a good measure of a child’s actual knowledge. Rather, assessment gives teachers a better picture of a student’s abilities and capabilities in the classroom. Thus, currently the debate continues over assessment versus testing in the classroom due to the demand for knowledge on whether or not testing is a good way of measuring a student’s progress in school.
It is important that teachers give children a fair chance to show their knowledge when assessing. “The purpose of assessment is to provide feedback that can be used to improve student performance” (Orange 2000). Teachers assess children to ensure that they are understanding the material, and to make sure they are learning. For young children, tests should never be the only criteria for assessment. Instructors should always make sure that their assessment is fair.
In society today, there are many children and parents who face the diagnosis of having a developmental disability that would qualify them for special education and needs. This time can come with many questions for the parents when they realize the specialized care and education their child will need. Most often, questions arise about their schooling and how they will be included with other children, as well as what services are available to their child. How their disability impacts their life is a very valid concern because their education will be impacted. When a disability is discovered, it effects trickle down from the child to the parents, to the teachers and finally the medical and educational specialists.
“in order for your child to qualify for the services the student must be found to have one of the 13 categories of special education and it must adversely affect their educational performance” (Hancock, 2016). So to get a better understanding of the special education process we have to view it from both sides of the situation, that is, a parent whose child was diagnosed with a disability, and a professional who works with special education for a living. Knowing both sides and their views we can get a better grasp of the whole system and the flaws and strengths that come with the whole process and
Sattler, Jerome, and Robert Hoge. Assessment of Children: Behaviorial, Social, and Clinical Foundation. La Mesa:Sattler, 2006. Print.
The teacher will also make norm-referenced and criterion referenced interpretations of assessment through this website. They have graph and color-coded bands that show widely held expectations for children’s development and learning. The teacher will use this website and graph to communicate twice a year with the parents about the child’s strength, weakness or any area of