by Marks Gustafson, Director Program Support Division, Head Starr Bureau
The screening and assessment process plays a critical role in each child's experience in the Head Start program. This process helps to determine each child's strengths and needs and thus to help tailor the program to that child. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of this process as it is implemented in Head Start.
At the beginning of the school year, and each time a new child enrolls, the child receives comprehensive screening. According to the new disabilities regulations, this screening must be accomplished within 45 days after the child's entry into the program.
This comprehensive screening gives Head Start and the child's parents a picture of the child's health, including speech, vision, hearing, dental, physical and emotional status, which includes motor skills, thinking or cognitive skills, and language, social, and perceptual skills. The screening process results in a snapshot of how the child is functioning, or the child's level of development or health status, at that particular point in time.
Screening is based on the premise that problems discovered early often can be remedied. Screening provides the information needed for referrals to other agencies and clues about follow up that may be necessary to diagnose a health, learning, or other problem.
Successful screening requires the use of appropriate procedures and techniques and total staff input. The health coordinator, teacher, and education, mental health, and disabilities coordinators contribute together with parents to provide the complete information needed in order to get the comprehensive picture of how well the child is functioning. Typically, the initial screening is done in the classroom by the education staff and health coordinator with input and observations from the other Head Start staff and with consultation from professionals in related fields, such as health, mental health, speech, and language, about appropriate procedures.
If the results from the child's comprehensive screening indicate some difficulties, the child is referred for a more in depth evaluation of the problems or concerns that were flagged in the screening process. In the chart on page 3, this is labeled as the "in depth assessment." This follow up assessment may be for a more intensive medical examination, vision or hearing testing, developmental testing, or other follow up.
The nature of the issue being examined and the skills of the Head Start staff will determine who does the in depth assessment and how it gets done, but in most Head Start programs this assessment usually is conducted by a professional in the community and not within the Head Start program.
If the multidisciplinary evaluation team determines that a child meets eligibility criteria for a disability and needs special education, an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) must be developed. The IEP is a comprehensive plan addressing the needs, strengths, and special service requirements of the child. The IEP must be prepared within 30 calendar days of a determination that the child needs special education and related services. Services must begin as soon as possible after the IEP is developed. The coordinator of disability services usually supervises the implementation of the IEP and arranges for any required services, such as mobility training and physical or speech therapy. Both the education coordinator and the disability services coordinator assist the classroom team and home visitors in carrying out activities and services detailed in the IEP.
If no need for follow up is indicated at any step in the process, the child then is assessed on an ongoing basis throughout his or her experience at Head Start. Ongoing assessment provides information on the progress of the child and the family, how the program can be planned to meet the individual needs of the child and the family, and how best to communicate these needs to the parents.
In conducting the ongoing assessment process, teachers are strongly encouraged to use a combination of checklists, teacher observations, parent reports, and collections of work done by the child. If a standardized instrument is used, it should be used in combination with those other approaches just mentioned. Programs should ensure that staff have the necessary skills and training so that what they are observing is meaningful and their interpretations are valid. The various types of information collected and the discussion of the information with parents and staff is one way we chart the progress of children and continue to plan an appropriate curriculum and individualized activities for them.
The Head Start program is responsible for providing children with experiences through which they can grow and develop socially, intellectually, physically, and emotionally, and involves parents actively both in the program and at home. These responsibilities require that component staff know the status and needs of the children and use that information in planning the program for individual children and in communicating with parents. All of these critical processes involve screening and assessment. This issue of the Bulletin is devoted to a discussion of the requirements and underlying principles of screening and assessment as it applies to meeting the individual needs of children. A subsequent issue will address how assessment is used to provide information on how well the program is meeting community and family needs.
