Team Assessment Process

Team discusses observed skills during a team assessment.
Members of the team discuss their observations during part of the assessment process.

For the most part, children who will benefit from an Active Learning approach are served by a multitude of individuals in any given year.  Usually the team includes a classroom teacher, paraprofessionals, physical, occupational, or speech/language therapists, teacher of students with visual impairments, teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing, orientation and mobility specialists, family members, and administrators. Each of these individuals has a role and possesses expertise crucial to the success of the student.  Therefore all the players need to be a part of assessment, implementation, documentation and re-evaluation steps.

When completing the Functional Scheme assessment one approach is to divide and conquer. 

    1. Some teams find it useful to have pairs of team members work together initially on specific “fields” (e.g. Gross Movement) of the assessment.
    2. Their results is shared with all other team members to reach consensus about the child’s functional level in each field of assessment.
    3. Then the entire assessment is reviewed with the parents or caregivers to determine if the child functions differently in the home environment.

It Takes a Team!

Below is a chart showing possible “lead pairs” for completing the various fields of the Functional Scheme. These are only suggestions, and each educational team should determine who best to involve in initially completing this document. Also, before finalizing the assessment, all team members (including parents and paraprofessionals) should have input.

Key to Lead Abbreviations:

    • COMS (orientation and mobility specialist)
    • OT (occupational therapist)
    • PT (physical therapist)
    • SLP (speech and language pathologist or therapist)
    • TDHH ( teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing)
    • TVI (teacher of students with visual impairments)

Functional Scheme Fields

Possible Lead(s)  to Complete

Gross motor

PT/ COMS

Fine motor

OT/ TVI

Mouth movements

OT/ SLP

Visual perception

TVI / COMS

Auditory perception

TDHH/  SLP / TVI

Haptic-tactile perception

OT/ TVI

Smell & taste

OT / TVI

Spatial Relations

TVI / COMS

Emotional Perception

Classroom Teacher/ Paraprofessional / Parents

Object Perception

TVI / Classroom Teacher

Language: Non-verbal

SLP / TDHH / TVI

Language: Verbal

SLP / TDHH / TVI

Comprehension of language

SLP / TDHH / TVI

Social Perception

Classroom Teacher / Paraprofessional / Parents

Perception thru play & activity

PT / OT

Developmentally impeding functions

Classroom Teacher / Parents

Toileting skills

Classroom Teacher / Paraprofessional /  Parents

Undressing & dressing

OT / Classroom Teacher

Personal hygiene

Classroom Teacher / Paraprofessional / Parents

Eating skills

OT / Classroom Teacher / Paraprofessional