Second Quarter Evaluation Reports Written By Ms. Johnson and Ms. Clement-Waterhouse

Special Education Progress Report
Loudoun County Public Schools

Narrative description of student's progress in program including discussion of status of goals and objectives from I.E.P.

Mark has had a quarter of ups and downs this past nine weeks. It seems that he has worked on so many skills and has displayed so many behaviors that it is difficult to identify significant, consistent progress. At this point, however, Mark has had many speech/language sessions in which he has worked well and stayed on task. He is given work that I am certain that he can complete and when he is able to do the work, his task focus is excellent. He copies a set of words and is then rewarded. At the end of the session, if he has earned all of his rewards, he earns time to rest or relax with some free time activity. This type of concrete reward system was implemented with the help of Frank Johnson because of Mark's behavior. He had been hitting, kicking, pinching, and throwing himself on the floor when he didn't want to (or wasn't able to) do the task at hand.

The question continues to arise about how much Mark is really reading and understanding. We know that with facilitated communication, he is able to answer comprehension questions that require a one-word response, spell words for a spelling test and answer questions that the facilitator knows the answer to. But without Facilitated Communication (FC) we have not been able to get him to answer any questions on the Canon, even when given the answer verbally. Although we continue to use FC for several activities, we are now trying to determine how much Mark is able to communicate to us on his own.

Mark is able to copy words, phrases and sentences with impeccable accuracy independently. He is also able to copy words from a printed page as opposed to cards. This skill may be one that we can build on and expand. Mark has been conditioned to type "help" when he wants the bag of candy opened for his reward. But because he now types "help" in response to many questions, it is not clear that he understands what "help" means. It appears that he has learned that if he types those letters, he will get the bag of candy opened.

At this point, Mark has not demonstrated that he consistently "reads" or understands any written word consistently. Several different methods of assessing this skill have been attempted over several different days. He has chosen the correct word, given four choices, but not given six choices. His accuracy depends entirely on the vocabulary used. Mark has chosen accurate responses using four animal names, but did not respond accurately to any family members' names.

Most recently, I have been working on getting Mark to get the attention of his "listener." Although he appears to do this vocally, it would be more appropriate for him to use a gesture, such as touching his listener's arm. It is imperative that he learn to do this before initiating any communication attempt. We also continue to work on appropriate social "words," such as "hi" and "bye" using gestures. As we discuss objectives for Mark for the remainder of this year, we will need to focus on where he is functioning right now in the school environment. We welcome your input and feel that it is vital in writing objectives that will be within Mark's reach, but will increase his ability to communicate independently.

Carolyn F. Clement, CCC-SLP

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