Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Family Centered Practice in Family Centered Practice in Communicating Communicating
Assessment ResultsAssessment Results
Laurie Ford & Suretha SwartLaurie Ford & Suretha SwartUniversity of British Columbia
Innovative Assessment Practices
Supporting Families and Communities
May 24, 2007
Goal for TodayGoal for Today
We want to discuss ways to put the assessment process in contextcontext
Primary contexts for the young child are their familyfamily and culturalcultural contexts
We hope you walk away with ideas for how to better address the families and cultural needs of the students you assess
AssessmentAssessment
A generic term that refers to process of gathering information for the purpose of making decisions
The purpose of the assessment must be clear to all involved because it will determine the questions that we ask, the instruments and procedures that we use
Assessment MethodsAssessment Methods
Direct observation of children Informal and structured interviews
with children Informal and structured interviews
with teachers Rating scales or questionnaires
On FamiliesOn Families
“Families, like the faces and fingerprints of the people who comprise them, are all different. Opinions, values, beliefs, goals, resources, languages, style of interaction and modes of communication vary from family to family just as they vary among individuals within each family” p. 72
Mclean, Bailey, Wolery, 2004
The Role of the Family in the The Role of the Family in the Assessment ProcessAssessment Process
TraditionalTraditional
Participate in an interview and
complete rating scales
A More Contemporary ViewA More Contemporary View
Families work as “collaborators” with professionals in the assessment process
What does this mean in your setting?
The Role of the Family in the The Role of the Family in the Assessment ProcessAssessment Process
A More Contemporary ViewA More Contemporary View
Work to involved families throughout the entire assessment process
(from the first decision to the last)
Strategies for Building Strategies for Building Collaborative RelationshipsCollaborative Relationships
Pre-assessment Planning• CPRs (Concerns, Priorities, Resources)• Family Needs Survey• Ask families what they want/need• Share your professional wants and needs
Strategies for Building Strategies for Building Collaborative RelationshipsCollaborative Relationships
Active Participation by Family and Caregivers During Assessment
Mutual Sharing of Assessment Results• Families who are more involved in the
process along the way are more likely to respond actively to the assessment results
Questions for Validating the Questions for Validating the Assessment ProcessAssessment Process
Ask Families Prior to the Ask Families Prior to the AssessmentAssessment• What kind of information would
be useful to you?• What kind of activities would
bring out the best in your child?• What have you others tried that
has been useful with your child?• What kind of activities reflect
what your child does at home?• When & where would be the
best time and place to gather information about your child?
Ask Families During Ask Families During the Assessmentthe Assessment• Are we getting a
representative sample of what your child can do?
• Was that the correct interpretation of what your child said (or did)?
• Are there better ways we should be playing or working with your child?
Questions for Validating the Questions for Validating the Assessment ProcessAssessment Process
Questions to Ask the Family After the Questions to Ask the Family After the AssessmentAssessment• Did we address your primary concerns?• How do you fell about the overall process and
results?• Were the behaviors displayed by your child
typical to your child?• What other skills and behaviors is your child able
to do that we were not able to see here today?• What could we have done differently?
Conducting a Family Conducting a Family Responsive AssessmentResponsive Assessment
Issue: Support Communication and Issue: Support Communication and UnderstandingUnderstanding• Requires flexibility and attention to the
responses of the child and their caregiver• Explain to the family what you are doing,
how you are doing it, and why it is important
Conducting a Family Conducting a Family Responsive AssessmentResponsive Assessment
Issue: Create a Secure and Non-Issue: Create a Secure and Non-threatening Environmentthreatening Environment• For both the child AND the family• When possible conduct assessments in
surroundings family to the child and family• If not in the home, make the setting as
comfortable as possible• Communicate messages of respect, equality,
support, and expertise (both family and professional bring expertise)
• When possible, provide some preliminary information on results to the families
Conducting a Family Conducting a Family Responsive AssessmentResponsive Assessment
Issue: Share Information Clearly and in a Issue: Share Information Clearly and in a Caring MannerCaring Manner• Present information in the language a family uses• Monitor use of technical terms• Present information like you would to a friend
who is bright but knows nothing about child development, assessment or disability
• Emphasize strengths….no parent wants to hear only what is not going well, problems, etc
• Allow time for the family to process information….allow for silence
Conducting a Family Conducting a Family Responsive AssessmentResponsive Assessment
Issue: Determining What Families Want in Issue: Determining What Families Want in the Decision Making Processthe Decision Making Process• Listen to what the family has to say (and not say)• Be aware of who the family wants involved in the
assessment decisions• Remember that when families do not do what
professionals expect, it may be that the professional does not have appropriate expectations
Taking a Culturally Taking a Culturally Responsive Approach to Responsive Approach to the Assessment of Young the Assessment of Young
ChildrenChildren
What is cross-cultural What is cross-cultural competence?competence?
“The ability …to respond optimally to all children, understanding both the richness and the limitations of the sociocultural contexts in which children and families as well as the service providers themselves, may be operating” (Barrera & Kramer, 1997, p. 217).
“A set of behaviors, attitudes, and policies, that enable a system, agency, and/or individual to function effectively with culturally diverse clients and communities” (Rorie, Paine, and Barger, 1996, p. 93).
What is cross-cultural What is cross-cultural competence?competence?
“ The ability to think, feel, and act in ways that acknowledge, respect, and build upon ethnic, sociocultural, and linguistic diversity” (Lynch & Hanson, 1993, p. 50).
“The ability to conduct one’s professional work in a way that is congruent with the behavior and expectations that members of a distinctive culture recognize as appropriate among themselves” (Green, 1982, p. 52).
The Challenge…The Challenge…
Young children are strongly affected by contextual factors
Cultural background can affect how children approaches developmental tasks
Values, beliefs, styles of interaction, coping strategies, and interests vary from family to family but also within families
The Challenge…The Challenge…
Requirements to follow consistent procedures that conform to agency policy, ethical guidelines from professional organizations, while providing individualized service that is sensitive to the diversity of families being served
Service systems are in some places mandated to develop methods to ensure family strengths and needs are assessed in culturally appropriate ways (Banks, 2001)
Changes in family constellation, demographics and overall diversity have outpaced changes in assessment procedures
Linguistic DiversityLinguistic Diversity
By the year 2020, more than 50% of all school-aged children in the US will come from diverse backgrounds
<14% of service providers in US public schools are from culturally/and or linguistically diverse backgrounds (Matuzny et al., 2007)
Linguistic DiversityLinguistic Diversity
Numbers of ESL students in Vancouver Elementary schools point to the need for culturally responsive practices when conducting assessments “in our own backyard”:• Carnarvon Community School (Vancouver’s
Westside): 17% of students are acquiring English as a second language.
• Mount Pleasant Community School (Vancouver’s Eastside): 29 different language groups in one school, with the majority of students identified as ESL
What does diversity look like in your workplace?
Family and DiversityFamily and Diversity
Family perspectives on assessment will be influenced by language but also by many other variables (education, religion, ethnicity, race, culture, values, beliefs, opportunity, socio-economic status). “The mere possession of the capacity to
communicate in an individual’s native language does not ensure appropriate non-discriminatory assessment of the individual. Traditional assessment practices and their inherent biases can be replicated in any number of languages” (Flanagan, McGrew, & Ortiz, 2000, p.291).
Family Identity & DiversityFamily Identity & Diversity
Two very important questions are raised by Lynch and Hanson (2004):
What is the degree to which the family identify with a given cultural perspective or practice?
How do life circumstances and historical events affect the degree of identification?Examples: child starting school, divorce, death, relocation, changes in employment or financial status,
Other…
SESSES
Socioeconomic status includes income, the level of the family member’s education and the social status implied by the occupation of its wage earners.
Poverty affects the development of English proficiency (Hakuta, Butler, & Witt, 2000).
Furthermore, poverty, independent of English proficiency level, affects learning (Gonzales, 2002)
Development of Development of Cross-Cultural CompetenceCross-Cultural Competence Heightened self-awareness
• Exploration of own heritage Place of origin, time of immigration, reasons for
immigration, languages spoken Learning about own roots=first step to learning how
beliefs, customs, behaviors are shaped by culture
Gaining cultural specific information (through direct and indirect methods)
• Reading, arts, cultural festivals, travel• Professional contacts (home-school liason workers)• Initial Interviews
Development of Development of Cross-Cultural CompetenceCross-Cultural CompetenceApplying and practicing the methods and
information acquired through self-examination and information gathering
Some authors (see Harry, Kalyanpur, & Day, 1999) highlighted the importance of finding a strategy that incorporates the therapists’ perspective with the family’s perspective
Sattler (1988) advocates for seeing the strength in the coping mechanisms of other groups (for example, reliance on extended family
networks)
DimensionsDimensions(Barrera, 2000)
Communicative linguistic dimensionPotential differences in language used, communication
stylesVerbal and non-verbal means of communicating
Sensory cognitive dimensionPotential for differences in priorities (e.g. goals for
children in social abilities vs. cognitive abilities)Strategies for acquiring new information (e.g., verbal vs.
non-verbal)Personal-social dimension
Families and service providers may differ in their degree of acculturation to one another’s culture and to the professional service culture
Culturally Responsive Practice Culturally Responsive Practice Informs All Stages of the AssessmentInforms All Stages of the Assessment
Culture and language are inherent aspects of individuals being assessed It should be acknowledged throughout the assessment process • Planning the assessment• Gathering information• Interpretation• Sharing of data with families
PlanningPlanning
Address family concerns, priorities, resources and needsInterventions should be tailored to family’s
needsCollaborative relationships are keyAddress hesitancy and ambivalence
Past discriminationOverrepresentation of minority students in
special education have been well documented (Mercer, 1973; Reschley, 1988).
Provide sufficient information
Gathering InformationGathering Information
Hanson, Lynch, and Wayman (1990) summarized steps as follows:clarification of interventionists valuescollection and analysis of ethnographic
information related to the community in which the family resides
determination of the degree to which the family operates transculturally
examination of the family’s orientation to specific child-rearing issues
Guidelines for Data GatheringGuidelines for Data Gathering
Questions about family structure and child rearing practices:• Primary caregivers• Child rearing practices
(sleeping,breastfeeding, parameters of acceptable child behavior)
• Family structure• Parameters of acceptable behavior
Guidelines for Data GatheringGuidelines for Data Gathering
Family Perceptions and Attitudes• Cultural/religious factors that would shape
family perceptions of disability? What is the family’s approach to medical
needs (holistic, western ?)
Guidelines for Data GatheringGuidelines for Data Gathering
Significant assessment decisions involve two or more professionals• Programs rely on systematic observational assessments,
using culturally and linguistically appropriate tools as the primary source of guidance to inform instruction
• Assessments are based on multiple methods and measures
• Assessments are ongoing-special attention is given to repeated assessments of language development over time
• Assessments are age appropriate
(NAEYC, 2005)
Guidelines for Data GatheringGuidelines for Data Gathering
Language and Communication Styles• To what degree is the professional proficient in
the family’s native language? • To what degree is the family proficient in
English?• The use of an interpreter
Using InterpretersUsing Interpreters
With which culture is interpreter primarily affiliated ? Is the family member comfortable with the interpreter? Address all words and remarks to the family, not the interpreter Speaking more slowly but not more loudly Avoid verbally or non-verbally offensive language Limit information communicated to a few sentences before
translation
Interpretation of Assessment Interpretation of Assessment ResultsResults
Adapt your interpretation of results to the individual (i.e. to acknowledge any cultural and linguistic differences) • Professionals should seek information and insight
from family members in selecting, conducting, and interpreting assessments (NAEYC, 2005).
• Programs should refrain from using family members to conduct formal assessments, interpret during formal assessments, or draw assessment conclusions.
Sharing of Results with FamiliesSharing of Results with Families
Professionals involved in assessment regularly inform and update families on their child’s assessment results in a way that is easily understood and meaningful
(NAEYC, 2005)
Case ExampleCase Example
Kai is a 4 year old who moved to your region a year ago with his “family” from India.
His older siblings are in elementary school and are doing exceptionally well.
Kai’s parents have noticed that Kai is not as far along in his learning at this age as his siblings were.
Case ExampleCase Example
Some preliminary information from the Public Health Nurse when the family moved to British Columbia indicates that there were some early concerns with Kai’s development before they moved to Canada.
Some initial assessment is needed to help: 1) determine his eligibility for services; and 2) develop an appropriate intervention program to help him transition to school.
What Do You Do?What Do You Do?
What should we do to start the assessment process?• How do we meet the needs of the family
and consider their cultural context? What do we need to remember as
we conduct the assessment? What do we need to consider as we
communicate the assessment results?
