ENVIRONMENTALASSESSMENT

Prepared by:

Faith G. Babon

BSPED 4A

Environmental Assessment

• examines the student’s social and physical characteristics across settings (Bondurant-Utz, 2002).

• This type of assessment views the student and the environment as interrelated components contributing to the student’s daily experiences. It seeks to discern a student’s total needs within the learning environment, including home, school, vocational, and social factors (Hamill & Everington, 2002).

Environmental Assessment

• Using an environmental view provides a richer and more resourceful type of evaluation (McConnell, 2000).

• Within environmental assessment, both the needs of the student in the environment and the demands placed on the student by the environment require evaluation (Maag, 2004).

Ryndak and Alper (2003) report that environmental assessments encourage family participation in the IEP process in a number of ways.

1. Family members contribute to the evaluation with valuable insights concerning the interaction between the student and his environmental.

2. By including the family members, the process informs the IEP team of progress toward positive future outcomes identified by the family.

3. Environmental assessments allow the IEP team to view the student in terms of strengths rather than the deficits often identified in more formal evaluations in a variety of settings, including those exclusive to the family.

4. Environmental assessments aid in the inclusionary process by identifying issues within the environment at both home and school that impact the student’s ability to progress and prepare for adult living.

2 Different Techniques in EA:

Ecological Inventories

Sociograms

Ecological Inventories

• Determine the content of the curriculum for students who require intermittent and pervasive support. -(Ryndak & Alper, 2003)

• The ecological inventory becomes a functional or life skills assessment.

• Ecological inventories seek to address three(3) areas (Wolery, 2004):

a) the student’s safety,

b) the quality of the student’s current environment, and

c) the need to plan and implement interventions to improve the student’s functioning in the environment.

The essential principles of ecological inventories include six(6) concepts (Snell & Brown, 2000):

a) ecosystem

b) natural habitat

c) ecological niche

d) niche breadth

e) goodness of fit

f) adaptation

Sociometric Assessments

• The sociogram provides one useful tool in determining social competence. A sociogram studies the dynamics and interactions in the classroom among the student, peers, teachers, and other in various settings. -(Overton, 2006)

• Miller, Cookie, and Test (2003) conducted a study using sociograms to look at social interactions of students with mild disabilities.

Benefits of Environmental Assessment

Environmental assessments include some critical features beneficial to students:

1. Environmental assessments evaluate functional skills necessary throughout the lifespan.

2. The level of independence and competence often increases by examining environments and making changes and adaptations. Identifying dissonant environments saves valuable instructional time and allows the IEP team to make good choices based on the student-centered information.

3. Environmental assessments increase opportunities for people with disabilities and people without disabilities to interact in natural settings (Ryndak & Alper, 2003).

4. The quality of the environment improves by the information gained from environmental assessments.

5. Environmental assessments aid in determining unsafe conditions within the classsroom.

6. Environmental assessments provide key elements in improving the curriculum, intervention goals, and procedures (McLean, Wolery, & Bailey, 2004).

7. These valuable assessments identify staff training needs and document program qualify, as well as the types of improvements needed in particular settings (Salvia & Ysseldyke, 2004).

Thank You!!!