One of the most common reasons for doing a comprehensive skills assessment is the fear that if we select target behaviors without one, we might be missing something. Although these assessments can take a lot of time, we believe they are essential. What if we don’t include something in the IEP or Insurance Treatment Plan that is crucial for the child’s future?
I was thoroughly convinced by the logic of this necessity too, until my daughter wrote the following story when she was around nine or ten years old:
Red and Green
By Clara Morgenstern
Once in Louisiana, there was a lady who thought that red is green and green is red. So, when she was driving and there was a red light, she thought it was green and went. When there was a green light, she thought it was red and stopped. But if someone was crossing the street she didn’t go. She had a few other tricks that prevented accidents. But even so she got pulled over by the police and honked at.
So, one day the state police had finally had enough and sent an officer to talk to her parents. After an interview the office had contacted the lady’s old preschool which fortunately was still in business. The director looked at her 42-year-old schedule and concluded that she had been out sick the day the other kids learned their colors. She had never made up the work. So the officer showed up at her house and said, “Ma’am, I think it is time for you to come with me.”
He took her back to preschool where she learned her colors and what all the fuss was about. She even got her old space at circle time, her old cubby, and her old name card. She also met sons and daughters of people she went to preschool with. Now she knows the difference between red and green.
© Clara Morgenstern Used with Permission
Here is a link to the original.
Real-world observation is the best way to determine what is essential. The reason why I’m no longer so concerned about comprehensive assessments is the real world (if you are paying attention!) will teach you what is critical and what isn’t. The reason Red and Green is funny is that it can’t possibly happen. Of course, someone would have figured out that the woman in the story mixed up red and green way before she learned how to drive.
Of course, a comprehensive skills assessment is necessary and appropriate under certain conditions. For example, a child is struggling in math class, and we suspect it is because prerequisite skills are missing. Or a child is struggling to make friends, but we aren’t sure what social skills might be missing. The key is that the cue to do the comprehensive assessment comes from a real-world problem. I don’t think comprehensive skills assessments should be a routine procedure to select target behaviors for an IEP or Treatment Plan. You can teach many, many skills. But if they don’t meet a natural contingency, they are unlikely to maintain anyway.