SEFB 311 Curriculum Based Assessment I

Name: Taylor Laufenberg

Date: October 14, 2014

School/Setting: Bryan High School/ Life Skills

How does this project contribute to your skills as an educator?

This project helped me build confidence in my ability to construct a

curriculum based measure as well as implement it. I learned that a
measure must be administered at least once to find any weaknesses it
may have. This project contributed to my collaboration skills as well. My
mentor teacher and I had to be honest with what we expected of the
student so that we could determine the next step.

On my honor, as an Aggie, I have neither given nor received unauthorized

aid on this academic work.

Signature____________________________________________

Description of student: Davey is a fifteen-year old boy with Down Syndrome and
other learning disabilities, and the combination of which has led to his full time
placement in a life skills room. He is a freshman this year and his previous
education severely limited him by underestimating his cognitive capabilities.
He can complete work jobs most of the day that incorporate various fine motor
skills. Most of the jobs require very little cognitive ability so he must instead use fine
motor skills and different strategies when his usual techniques dont work out.
Activities of strength involve: sorting colored objects, placing unlike objects in
separate holes, sorting and moving colored clothespins. Davey has limited vision
and it is unclear if his glasses actually help him to see. Sometimes he takes them off
to look at objects up close but needs them to read. He is often asked by the teacher
to put them back on. Despite his vision, Davey is a visual learner. He does well with
symbol recognition or if given visual prompts. He is hardworking, diligent, and has
an early number sense. He can count up to 13 and knows most numbers by sight
however he struggles with recognizing a group of numbers for a numeral beyond
five or six. Davey can recognize many sight words at a second grade level when
presented in font as small as 12pt. Using his left hand, Davey can spell his full name
legibly. His fine motor skills are where his previous education have also failed.
Davey struggles with having strength behind his pinser grip. He finds it difficult to
put together easter eggs because of the delicate grip required on each half.
Social strengths of Daveys are limited by his level of frustration. When Davey is
feeling confident, he speaks well enough to communicate his thoughts in simple
sentences. However, if Davey is feeling particularly frustrated he will stand silently
while teachers or paraprofessionals fail in attempts to illicit a response. Davey is a
very good friend and enjoys making other people happy. He like to check up on
friends with a hug or pat on the back.
Objective: Going in line with transition oriented IEP goals, the student will master
several basic personal living skills. These skills have been taught for the past month
by the student observer in small group setting. Other skills include teeth brushing
and face washing.
The administrator will model a review of the task analysis of towel folding.
Davey will use the towel provided to independently complete 7 out of 7 steps with
less than one error and produce a neat square in four out of six trials.
Administration Discussion:
I first taught the whole group the towel folding procedure and emphasized the
different steps. Then I began taking a small group of three students, including
Davey, to work on the procedure together. I used the following measurement tool
while paying special attention to Davey. I modeled each step of the procedure with
think aloud language. I then told Davey that it was his turn to show me how he

knows to fold a towel using the 7 steps. I made sure he knew there was no need to
rush but that he should have a nice neat square at the end. I came up with a set of
standard verbal prompts for each step so that Davey could remember to break it
down into the different steps if he got stuck. I had Davey complete all six trials in
the first administration.
He surprised me the first time with how fast he went folding the towel. He even told
me that folding towels is easy and he is good. The task analysis breaks down
the procedure into 7 steps to help Davey focus on the way his hands manipulate the
towel in different ways. His pinser grasp has developed incorrectly after years of
teachers not paying any attention to it. Most often he has to compensate by
rotating his wrist at an uncomfortable angle and this diminishes his strength. I was
surprised at how Davey managed to complete each step in the first few trials
without any prompts. As the task became repetitive, Dave began to slip into bad
habits and start cutting corners. He consistently forgot to turn the towel and instead
tried to move his hands in uncomfortable movements. This did not surprise me
because Davey consistently struggles to implement new strategies when the one he
has doesnt work. I had to remind him with the verbal prompt hot dog turn in
three out of 6 trials and in two of those trials he skipped the step altogether. Step
three and four required verbal prompts in a couple trials toward the end.
My mentor teacher as well as myself continue to be surprised by Davey because he
is a freshman coming in this year with unusually low fine motor skills. He has
passed most of the so called limits he had with his previous educators and my
mentor teacher continues to search for new capabilities of his. This being said,
Davey did very well on the measure compared to my thoughts on his ability
beforehand. The measure had strength in finding out which step Davey struggled on
so that we could find the movements he struggles with. This was vital to help my
mentor teacher and I discover which movements posed more of a difficulty for
Davey.
I had Davey complete all 7 trials in one sitting. I think this could have been a
problem because he seemed to fade toward the end. The last few trials he needed
physical and verbal prompts and still missed a step. This seems to be a weakness of
the measure and could be addressed by simply breaking down the trials. I could
have given Davey two trials per sitting with one day in between. This would allow
him to remember what he has learned without getting the task becoming
mundane.

Discussion with Mentor: In my mentor teacher and my discussion of the results,

we concluded that Davey is still in need of fine motor skills support. His ability to
complete the task in most trials was very encouraging. My mentor teacher was very
impressed with his control of both of his hands simultaneously. She mentioned that

during his work jobs he often struggles to try a new strategy whereas in one trial of
the towel folding he used several different positions for one step. My mentor
teacher expected him to do poorly on the first half of the procedure because of the
pinser grasp required. Davey proved both of us wrong and he was able to complete
those steps in every single trial. He was also able to remember the entire
procedure in several trials which surprised me. The fact that Davey could remember
the steps encouraged me to ask my mentor teacher if he and I could begin working
on more cognitively challenging tasks. My mentor teacher agrees that the measure
was helpful to see where Davey can perform on certain fine motor skills. We both
decided that it could be used again but it may not be necessary for this student
because he needs to focus on more demanding tasks from now on. My mentor
teacher felt that the towel folding task was not challenging enough for Davey. She
shared that his skipping steps and needing prompts toward the last few trials had
more to do with his lack of engagement than actual skill.
Future Teaching:
The measure was created to determine which steps of folding a towel posed a
challenge for Davey. The measure successfully showed us that Davey is nearly
proficient in most of the movements required to fold a towel. This made my mentor
teacher realize that Davey may be more able than he lets on. The fact that he lost
interest in the activity toward the last few trials leads my mentor teacher to believe
that Davey needs more practice on finishing tasks required of him. Up until now,
Davey had us fooled into thinking he was not capable of finishing a task due to
inability. The truth seems to be that the activity Davey is told to complete will be
partially finished and he loses interest. Future teaching will emphasize the
completion of tasks and the implementation of a reward system after I shared my
thoughts with my mentor teacher. I shared with my mentor teacher that I believe
Davey is able to start working with a system of earned rewards. She agrees with me
and we will begin using a free time reward system with Davey. For every 3 work jobs
he completes, Davey will be allowed 3 minutes of tablet time.

Measurement Tool:
Administrator begins with a brief review of the task analysis through modeling and
emphasizing the individual steps. The student is given as much time as necessary
to complete all 7 steps.
If the student begins to struggle, verbal prompts can be given for each step as
follows:
1. Pinch the corners
2. Move hands above desk
3. Hands move away from you
4. Let go on when corners line up
5. Flat like a mat!
6. Hot dog turn
7. Again to make a square
Hand over hand prompt acceptable if student struggles with motion of moving
forward (step 3)
Element
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial
Trial 6 Total
5
1. Both
/6
hands make
Key
pinser grip
on bottom
+ Completed
corners of
independently
towel
2. Both
/6
~ Completed
hands lift
after
off desk
visual/physical
while
prompt offered
holding
- Skipped Step
corners
3. Both
/6
**Neat folds
hands
move
simultaneo
usly toward
far edge of
desk (away
from
student)
4. Corners
/6
placed on
top of each
other and
matched

up**
5. Towel
smoothed
out
6. Towel
rotated
180
7. Steps 1-5
Repeated
once (towel
folded
twice)
Total

/6

/6

/6

/7

/7

/7

/7

/7

/7