Educational Report Brigham Young University-Idaho

Demographics

Name: *****
Date of Birth: September 15, 2004
Age: 4 years, 4 months
Grade: Pre-Kindergarten
School: Preschool Lab at Brigham Young University-Idaho
Evaluation Date: January 2009 March 2009
Evaluators: *****, *****, and *****
Report Author: Kimmy Petillot (Tangren)

Reason for Referral

*****was referred due to his parents concerns about his development and coping skills,
especially because they want him to be ready for transitioning to Kindergarten. It will be
determined through interview, observation, and testing if ***** is eligible for Special Education
Services. The assessments given to ***** include the Temperament and Atypical Behavior
Scales (TABS), the Vineland II: Adaptive Behavior Scales, the Preschool Language Scales
(PLS-4), Gilliam Aspergers Disorder Scale (GADS), and the Battelle Developmental Inventory
2nd Edition (BDI).

Background

Developmental History
***** was the result of a full term pregnancy and normal birth. While he was growing up
he reached all of the developmental milestones for motor development on time, but was delayed
in communication, self-help/adaptive behavior, cognitive, and social/emotional development.
Going along with this, his mom stated that ***** has a high pain tolerance and sometimes does
not recognize this, causing him to play rough with others. This is something which is atypical
compared to others at this stage of development.
In relation to *****s communication, he can say two or three word sentences such as,
A show, I hunray [hungry], and Thank you, although he does not ask questions. His
parents also reported that breakfast is the best time ***** communicates because there is always
a consistent routine. During breakfast he can use utensils and drink from a cup but, he cannot
pour his own cereal.

Medical History
*****s hearing and vision have been tested and are both normal. He currently does not
take any medication. Previously, ***** has been diagnosed with Autism and Partial Seizure
Disorder. His parents have created a room in their house for him to receive therapy in during the
day. This room is set up to have minimum stimulations and has a sound machine to block outside
noise, as needed. During this time, ***** uses a picture exchange communication system to
create a picture schedule.

Educational History
Currently, ***** attends classes at the Preschool Lab in Brigham Young University-
Idaho and previously attended the Toddler Lab. He has also been enrolled in a developmental
preschool at a local school district in Rigby.

Social/Emotional History
***** does not initiate interactions with others. Whenever ***** does play with other
children, he will play physically and chase them. He will also do this with his sister and does not
know how to appropriately play with her yet.
When it is time for breakfast, everything has to be consistent for *****. For example,
***** will get upset if his sister gets a red plate because he does not think that is her plate and he
will try to take it away. If anything gets on his hands, ***** will get worried but only if he sees
it and then he will wash his hands. His dad also stated that ***** will eat spaghetti and get
messy, but only because afterwards he knows there will be a bath.
In addition to this, getting dressed is the hardest transition for *****. Sometimes, it will
take two minutes while other times it takes all day. His mom will give him choices in which
clothes he can wear, but he has a difficult time dressing and undressing himself. If his pants have
a waist band, he can put them on but he has a harder time with putting shirts over his head.
However, ***** is not always consistent in what he can and cannot do. Depending upon how
getting dressed goes, his mom can tell what kind of day it will be. If it is a bad day, ***** will
refuse to make a choice and rip off his clothes once he is in the car.

Family History
***** lives in Rexburg with his mom, dad, sister, and brother. He is the oldest of the
children in his family. His grandparents also live locally and help to support *****s needs.
When it is time for his dad to come home near the end of the day, ***** will get so excited that
he overwhelms himself. He will often get angry with his sister during this time. However, *****
will be soft with his baby brother and will show concern for him if he is crying.

Observation

Home Observation:
***** ran into couches, turned off the lights, repeated the phrase It hurt my eye, and
threw items across the room at home. When he noticed that there was someone recording, he
said, No picture of me, as well as, Say cheese. As he said the word picture, he pronounced
the p with a t sound instead. Soon after he began running around the room in circles. He ran
into the couches a couple of times, throwing his chest and head into the couch and flinging his
legs above him into the air. When he did not run into the couches, he would jump over his dads
foot.
Afterwards, ***** went over to the lights and turned them off. His mom, dad, and the
person recording the observation all verbally prompted ***** to turn the lights back on. When
someone did turn the lights back on, ***** kept trying to turn them off. He would say variations
of the phrase, It hurt my eye. His dad would stand in front of the lights and say no, but *****
continued to say the same phrase and tried to turn the lights off. When his dad asked why it hurts
his eyes, ***** responded with the same answer. ***** soon proceeded to turn on and off the
lights in other rooms of the house, such as the kitchen.
Both of *****s parents gave him other choices instead of turning off the lights, such as
reading a book, playing a game, or watching a movie, etc. *****s dad also asked him to take a
stuffed monkey to his sister instead of turning off the lights. ***** did grab the monkey, but then
threw it across the room to his sister. His dad tried to have him grab a toy elephant for him, but
***** again threw it at his sister. Once his sister had the toy, she threw it across the room like
***** had and they both went running to the couch where it had landed. ***** got the elephant
before his sister, which caused her to scream. While his mom tried to help his sister, *****
moved across the room lifting his arms up and down with the elephant. This only lasted for a
couple of seconds until ***** said, It hurt my eye and began turning off the lights again. As he
turned off the lights, he would tilt his head back to look up at them.

Preschool Lab Observation:

***** had little interactions with peers, followed directions when prompted, and copied
others movements at the Preschool Lab. During the observation, students were independently
playing with toys. Most of the students would interact with each other while ***** kept to
himself. For part of the observation he was holding a glass mason jar and sticking his finger into
it. While he did so, he would switch which hand he held it in while he walked around the room.
A little while later, ***** found two paper plates on the floor and put them under his feet and
slid around. This lasted for a couple of seconds until ***** walked away.
After this, the teachers announced it was time to clean up. ***** pushed in a chair and
then said something which resembled, Clean up. He then found a toy spider and played with it.
Whenever ***** played with a toy, he always did so by himself. A teacher prompted ***** to
put away the toy spider in a basket, which he did.
The next activity was to have everyone line up on a tape circle on the floor. ***** stood
next to two students, but they both moved away. ***** moved closer to them and watched as
one student tried to put his hand on the back of the other students neck. Then ***** tried to do
the same thing to one of the students. After this, they moved to another part of the circle on the
other side of *****. As he had done before, ***** moved closer to the students and then began
flapping his hand up and down on the other student while his other hand stayed bent up at his
shoulder. The teachers began to intervene until the song for the activity began to play. Everyone
in the class would walk around a tape circle on the floor and follow the instructions of the
teacher and the recording. While ***** did this, he would copy the teachers movements, such
as slowing down and taking smaller steps when they did.

Tests Administered

TABS: Temperament and Atypical Behavior Scales, which measures social/emotional

development.
o Administered on January 21, 2009.
Vineland II: Adaptive Behavior Scales, which measures communication, social-emotional,
self-help/adaptive behavior, and motor development.
o Administered on January 21, 2009.
PLS-4: Preschool Language Scales, which measures communication development.
o Administered on March 10, 2009.
GADS: Gilliam Aspergers Disorder Scale, which measures social interaction, behavior,
and cognitive patterns.
o Administered on March 10, 2009.
BDI: Battelle Developmental Inventory 2nd Edition, which measures adaptive, personal-
social, communication, motor, and cognitive development.
o Administered on March 10, 2009.

Test Results

TABS Raw Score Standard Percentile Confidence

Score Rank Interval
Detached 17 0 <1 -
Hyper-Sensitive/Active 9 15 <1 -
Underactive 4 7 1 -
Dysregulated 3 16 2 -
Temperament & Regulatory Index 23 <1 <50 -

Vineland - II Raw Score Standard Percentile Confidence

Score Rank Interval
Communication - 81 10 73-89
Receptive 23 10 - 7-13
Expressive 52 9 - 7-11
Written 12 17 - 15-19
Daily Living Skills - 67 1 58-76
Personal 24 8 - 5-11
Domestic 6 12 - 9-15
Community 6 9 - 7-11
Socialization - 59 .3 51-67
Interpersonal Relationships 19 7 - 5-9
Play and Leisure Time 7 7 - 4-10
Coping Skills 7 9 - 7-11
Motor Skills - 91 27 81-101
Gross 71 13 - 11-15
Fine 45 14 - 12-16
Total Test - - - -

PLS-4 Raw Score Standard Percentile Confidence

Score Rank Interval
Auditory Comprehension 51 104 61 -
Expressive Communication 45 84 14 -
Total Test 95 94 37 -

GADS Raw Score Standard Percentile Confidence

Score Rank Interval
Social Interaction 29 14 91 -
Restricted Pattern of Behavior 13 9 37 -
Cognitive Patterns 12 8 25 -
Pragmatic Skills 21 15 95 -
Aspergers Disorder Quotient - 110 75 -

BDI Raw Score Standard Percentile Confidence

Score Rank Interval
Adaptive (ADP) - 10 7 72-88
Self-Care (SC) 56 8 25 -
Personal Responsibility (PR) 7 2 <1 -
Personal-Social (P-S) - 15 10 77-87
Adult Interaction (AI) 53 10 50 -
Peer Interaction (PI) 6 1 <1 -
Self-Concept and Social Role (SR) 48 4 2 -
Communication (COM) - 7 2 64-76
Receptive Communication (RC) 46 6 9 -
Expressive Communication (EC) 34 1 <1 -
Motor (MOT) - 35 99 125-141
Gross Motor (GM) 82 14 91 -
Fine Motor (FM) 47 9 37 -
Perceptual Motor (PM) 26 12 75 -
Cognitive (COG) 22 18 80-94
Attention and Memory (AM) 48 8 25 -
Reasoning and Academic Skills (RA) 23 6 9 -
Perception and Concepts (PC) 40 8 25 -
Total Test - 89 10 78-84
Interpretation

Communication

According to testing, observation, and interview, ***** is performing in the below

average range. In the communication section of the Vineland, ***** did better than 10 out of
100 children in the norm population sample. Also, the BDI reported that he did better than 2 out
of 100 children. However, according to the PLS-4, he did better than 37 out of 100 children,
which means he was performing in the average range. This discrepancy could be the result of a
high subtest score in the PLS for Auditory Comprehension. This section of the test only
measured understanding of various concepts such as time, numbers, and shapes. The other
assessments given to ***** measured a broader scope of his overall communication abilities.
This overall test performance is consistent with interview data because ***** can say two or
three sentence words such as, A show and Thank you, although he does not ask questions
yet. In addition to this, his mom reported how *****s communication varies by what time in the
day it is, stating that breakfast is the best time for him. This information also relates with
observation data because during a home observation, ***** told the camera recorder, No
picture of me and Say cheese. When he said the word picture, he did mispronounce the p
with a t sound instead. In an observation during the Preschool Lab, ***** did not interact or
communicate with other students. The only time it was observed that he spoke was when he said
something which resembled, Clean up. *****s performance in the below average range can
affect his ability to communicate his needs effectively in a school setting and among his peers.

***** is consistently able to:

Speak using two or three word sentences.
Point to and/or retrieve common objects when given their name.
Answer questions posed by others using words.

***** can partially or sometimes do the following:

Listen and follow one step instructions.
Pronounce phonemes correctly/clearly.
Change his voice inflections based upon the purpose of speaking.

***** is not yet proficient in:

Asking questions.
Following if-then directions such as, If you eat dinner, then you get a cookie.
Completing a task with three or more steps.

Social-emotional

From testing, observation, and interview, ***** is performing in the below average
range. However, this is not consistent among testing. For example, according to the GADS,
***** did better than 91 out of 100 students in the norm population sample for Social
Interaction, which is in the above average range. But for the TABS, ***** did better than 50 out
of 100 students, which is in the average range. According to the Socialization portion of the
Vineland, he did better than .3 out of 100 students, which is in the below average range. Part of
the BDI also measured Personal-Social Interaction and scored ***** better than 10 out of 100
students, which is in the below average range. The reason these test scores do not align with each
other could be because of the type of assessment tool used. For example, the Vineland is a parent
interview, which demonstrates what the parents have observed each day. However, the GADS is
an observation, but only measured ten questions about social interaction. In addition to this, the
TABS is a checklist that parents fill out and scores can vary depending upon which parent
completed the checklist.
While these test scores do not align with each other, observation and interview data are
consistent and demonstrate *****s overall performance in the below average range. According
to *****s mom in an interview, ***** does not initiate interactions with others. She also
mentioned how she can tell what kind of day ***** will have by how easily he gets dressed.
This varies day by day, showing an irregular pattern in emotions. From an observation of *****
in the Preschool Lab, he stood next to two students who kept moving away from him. While
***** was near them, he would flap his hand up and down in front of one of the students. This
kind of interaction is not something which is typical for a student *****s age. During a home
observation, ***** also repeated the same phrase, It hurt my eye, over and over instead of
expressing his emotions in different ways. *****s ability to regulate his emotions and recognize
social cues can impact his performance in school and interfere with how ***** interacts with his
peers in order to facilitate learning.

***** is consistently able to:

Show interest in where he is and what he is doing.
Say, Thank you after being given something.
Show concern when a baby cries.

***** can partially or sometimes do the following:

Play games that require simple interactions.
Use words to interact with others who are not family.
Appropriately demonstrate positive and/or negative emotions.

***** is not yet proficient in:

Initiating interaction with other children.
Sharing toys with others.
Adapting behavior when presented with a change in schedule.
Motor

Testing, observation, and interview report that ***** is performing in the average range.
In the Vineland, ***** did better than 27 out of 100 children in the norm population sample in
Motor Skills, which is in the average range. Conversely, in the BDI, ***** scored better than 99
out of 100 children in the norm population group for Motor Skills, which is in the above average
range. The reason for this discrepancy could be a high subtest score in the BDI for Gross Motor
development. This subtest also only measured gross motor skills such as tracing designs,
extending fingers independent of each other, etc. The scores ***** received for the Vineland
better correlate with interview data. For example, *****s mom stated how ***** often will play
physically with others and enjoys chasing them. He has a high pain tolerance, which is why he
plays roughly with others. Observation data also correlates with interview data because at home
***** will run into his couches head first, throwing his legs above him in the air. He can also
pick up various objects and throw them across the room. In the Preschool Lab, ***** held a
glass mason jar and would switch which hand he held it in while he walked around the room.
Although *****s motor development is average, his tendency to play roughly with others will
affect his ability to socialize appropriately and understand when it is time to play and when it is
time to be still in the classroom.

***** is consistently able to:

Run with direction and without hesitation.
Walk down stairs while alternating feet.
Climb on and off objects.

***** can partially or sometimes do the following:

Hop on one foot.
Throw an object using his non-dominant hand.
Catch a ball with both hands.

***** is not yet proficient in:

Skipping.
Riding a bike.
Holding a pencil using the proper positioning.

Cognitive

Based upon testing, observation, and interview, ***** is performing in the average range.
As part of the BDI, ***** scored better than 18 out of 100 children in the norm population
sample for Cognitive Development. In the GADS, ***** scored better than 25 out of 100
children for Cognitive Patterns. This correlates with observation data. At home, ***** would
respond to the verbal prompts of his parents, although he would repeat the phrase, It hurt my
eye. When he was asked to pick something else to do other than turn off the lights, *****
continued trying to turn off the lights. While in the Preschool Lab, ***** was able to copy the
movements of his teachers during an activity. Interview data also is consistent with testing and
observation in some regards. For example, ***** can use a picture exchange communication
system to create a picture schedule during therapy. However, *****s mom reported that he is
not always consistent in what he can and cannot do. This can impact *****s ability to
consistently improve his learning in Kindergarten and to develop in academic areas needed for
future development.

***** is consistently able to:

Select the correct hand with a hidden object.
Pay attention in a learning activity with a group for five minutes.
Recognize familiar objects by name.

***** can partially or sometimes do the following:

Focus on a task when other distractions are present.
Repeat information when given to him.
Express thoughts using different words.

***** is not yet proficient in:

Remembering tasks when given in more than three steps.
Finding an alternative solution to a problem.
Recalling sequences from memory with more than three objects.

Self-Help/Adaptive Behavior

Testing, observation, and interview demonstrate that ***** is performing in the below
average range. When given the BDI, ***** scored better than 7 out of 100 children in the norm
population sample. In addition to this, ***** did better than 1 out of 100 children in Daily
Living Skills when given the Vineland. Interview data correlates with these results in many
ways. For example, ***** has a hard time dressing and undressing himself, although he can put
on pants that have a waistband. Going along with this, if *****s hands get messy from eating
food, he will become worried and wash his hands. He will do things such as eat spaghetti and
become messy, but only because he knows afterward that there will be a bath. ***** is also able
to use utensils and drink from a cup, but he cannot pour his own cereal. This interview data also
correlates with observation data. During a home observation, ***** would not move onto a new
activity when he wanted to turn the lights off. However, in the Preschool Lab, ***** was able to
put away a toy spider when it was time to clean up, but only when prompted by a teacher.
Overall, *****s ability to help himself and modify his behavior consistently will impact how he
interacts with others in the classroom and how he takes care of his own needs independently.
***** is consistently able to:
Put on pants that have a waistband.
Use utensils.
Drink from a cup.

***** can partially or sometimes do the following:

Choose between articles of clothing.
Respond to directions without assistance.
Recognize the feelings of others.

***** is not yet proficient in:

Using a toilet.
Putting a shirt over his head.
Helping to make food.

Recommendations

***** is eligible for Special Education services under the category of Autism, as he was
previously diagnosed, under Part B services of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA). It is recommended that ***** receive Special Education services as he transitions into
Kindergarten.

Recommendations for Professionals:

1. Implement speech therapy focusing on the communication skills ***** will need
to transition into Kindergarten.
2. Provide services that focus on decision making and how to handle situations when
they do not go as planned.
3. Modify the structure of therapy and services given to model what they will be like
during Kindergarten.

Recommendations for Teachers:

1. Implement a picture schedule in the classroom for ***** to know what is going to
happen in the day.
2. Give ***** preferential seating close by the teacher in order to monitor his
emotions and behavior throughout the day.
3. Provide positive behavior supports for when ***** interacts with other students
in non-physical ways.

Recommendations for Parents:

1. Use a picture exchange communication schedule system during other portions of
the day in addition to therapy.
 2. Begin introducing Kindergarten level concepts at home to help ***** become
comfortable with that type of work.
3. Encourage ***** to ask questions in order to express his needs more efficiently.

Summary

***** is a four year old boy who was referred due to his parents concerns about his
development and coping skills, especially with transitioning into Kindergarten. He was the result
of a normal pregnancy and met all of developmental milestones for motor development on time,
but was delayed in communication, self-help/adaptive behavior, cognitive, and social/emotional
development. Both his hearing and vision were tested and found to be normal. *****
communicates using two or three word sentences, but does not ask questions. He does not initiate
interaction with others, but will show concern for his baby brother when he is crying. In addition
to this, ***** can copy the movements of others, such as teachers. According to testing,
observation, and interview, ***** is performing in the below average range for communication,
self-help/adaptive behavior, and social/emotional development and in the average range for
motor and cognitive development. ***** qualifies for Special Education services under Part B
services of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) under the category of Autism.
It is recommended that ***** use a picture schedule system in his home and in the classroom in
order to help him adjust with transitioning into Kindergarten. Also, using positive behavior
supports will help ***** regulate his social/emotional development and further his overall
progress.

Kimberly Petillot (Tangren)

Report Author