Julia Perez November 7, 2011 SPED 414 AEPS Reaction Paper The assessment, evaluation, and programming system

assessment was a great experience. It really opened my eyes when it comes to students who have Down syndrome or autism. I also enjoyed being able to observe more than one child and seeing how they interact with one another as well as those around them. I had only worked with one child with Down syndrome before so I was interested to observe another child with it. I had never had any experiences with students with autism so I also wanted to find out more about it. For this particular assessment, I was the fine motor observer. I was to observe both students actions dealing with specific arm and hand movements in activities where students are manipulate objects with two hands, scissor skills, and writing. At first I was nervous about observing two children with specific disabilities as well as implementing the assessment tool. I was not sure I was going to be able to do both students at the same time. I also did not know if I could score each student correctly. However, I did my best to follow the directions of the assessment and observe as much as I could. As soon as both Hazel, and Jaden came into the classroom, I immediately felt comfortable with observing them. They seemed so energetic and happy that it was hard not to smile and enjoy their company. Both students began interacting with the materials right away so I began writing notes right away. The process was flexible enough for me to go from one student to the other. I have had lots experience in the last two semesters with finding out and observing fine motor skills. It was fairly easy to pick out what activities

were considered fine motor but it was hard to score on the score sheet. I was not sure if an activity should receive a 2 or a 1. I was not sure if a 1 meant that they had done at least once or they did it more than once. I had to ask Lori for clarification on the scoring in order to do it correctly. I also felt there was more I should have been scoring. Other than that, I enjoyed observing the fine motor for this assessment. When working with the family during the lab, each group member greeted the parents and students with a smile. We all made sure to make eye contact and let the parents know that who we were. The parent and child facilitator told the parents who we all were and what we were going to be looking for. The parents were invited to sit down and work with both the student and facilitator if they wanted. The contact before the lab also seemed helpful. Jadens father appeared very comfortable with Erin. He tried to direct Jaden to Erin as much as he could. Hazels diaper accident was handled with the utmost care. The parent/child facilitator made sure there was a solution. The other group members tried our best to stay out of the way so the students and parents did not feel overwhelmed. There were a lot of people in that small room so we tried our best to make everyone feel comfortable. After the lab, each group member talked about what they observed and talked about what they saw the most. I went from one parent to the other because I had to observe two students. We all asked questions about the behaviors we saw in the assessment and what the child does when they are at home or school. This opened up an in depth conversation of things we were not able to see that would help our insight on children with these two disabilities. I do believe each parents questions and concerns were answered. We talked for a long time about what their child does and how much they have improved

or what they need to work on. Jadens father had questions about what we thought he needed to work on. We did our best to give the best explanations as to what we saw and what might be best to help him. We did not have all the answers but we did our best to answer them. The group was able to talk about personal experiences with school and the parents were able to as well. The information collected in the AEPS assessment covers many areas. Even though there are other assessments that cover many of the developmental areas, it seemed that the AEPS assessment was easier to understand and administered. However, some areas on the score sheet are longer than others, which is why things have to be done more than once. With the AEPS assessment, those administering the test would have to incorporate activities that would allow students to do the specific things on the score sheet. Doing one developmental area was manageable but if I were to do the whole assessment, I would need to do it after a couple of days. The language used was not full of jargon I did not understand, so it was useful when trying to take information on both students. The AEPS assessment taught me that there are a lot of areas to cover when in a preschool or early childhood classroom that has students with special needs. When using this assessment, I will be able to find out what areas the students are doing well in and what areas need improvement. I will be able to use assessment to guide me to choose activities that will help my students develop in areas of strengths and areas of weakness. I would also be able to collaborate with other teachers to think of different activities that can be done with the students and how we can work together in order for our students to learn together. If I were to do this assessment lab again, there are many things I would do again. I would try and look up the specific disabilities of the students and try and figure out some of

the normal or typical things they might do. I would also read over the manual more. I would talk to my group and child facilitators about asking different kinds of questions preferably open-ended questions. I would also love to incorporate large motor activities. Because the space was a small, I would have the lab in a different school setting or even have the students play on a playground. Large motor activities would give a lot of information when it comes to language, social/emotional, and gross motor areas. And lastly, I would try and find things both students have in common. I would include activities or books they both like in order to see how they will react and interact with one another and the child facilitators. Those social interactions are important to observe and work on if need be. All in all, I learned a lot from this assessment. I enjoyed it as well. It was a pleasure to watch and observe these students work in the classroom. They were a joy to watch. Everyone also seemed to have a good time observing and working with them as well, which made the lab run smooth. The AEPS assessment is one I will be using in my future classrooms and passing on to other teachers if they have not done it yet.