Chapter 12
Chapter Focus
This chapter discusses the procedures used in assessing older students with transition needs. It
also explores some of the issues related to assessment procedures. Federal regulations require
education professionals to assist students with special needs who are transitioning from school to
adulthood. Guidelines also govern the services offered to parents and families at this critical
juncture in their child’s life.
Check Your Understanding
Activity 12.1
Use the student profile from the Transition Planning Inventory to determine Eric’s transition
needs.
1. Employment needs:
2. Further education/training:
3. Daily living:
4. Leisure activities:
5. Community participation:
6. Health:
7. Self-determination:
8. Communication:
9. Interpersonal relationships:
Apply Your Knowledge
Use the information obtained from the TPI to write a behavioral objective for Eric’s self-
determination needs.
Think Ahead Exercises
Part I
1. The student’s behaviors, aptitudes, academic skills, and independent living skills are
measured in _____________.
2. A student who makes his or her own decisions in IEP meetings and educational planning
sessions has likely attained the _____________.
3. Students who are able to work with continued coaching and support are participating in
_____________.
4. IDEA requires that students who are 16 years of age and older must have ___included in
their IEP.
5. IDEA requires that _____________ are measurable and that the student’s IEP be
designed to reasonably enable the student to meet them.
Part II
Using this chapter and all previous chapters in this text, design a transition assessment plan for
the student described here. Include in your plan the areas you believe require assessment and the
specific instruments—both formal and informal—that you would employ in your assessment.
Dianna is a 15 ½-year-old student in the ninth grade who receives services in the general
education classroom for her nonacademic classes. Dianna has mild cognitive impairments and
has been receiving special education support services since kindergarten. She reads at the third–
grade level and can complete third grade-level math application problems with some assistance
from her teacher. Dianna has difficulty joining in group activities and her teachers describe her
as “shy.” She is not certain about her career goals, and she recently completed a class in career
awareness, where she appeared to be interested in childcare or basic clerical work.
Part III
List and discuss some of the issues related to transition assessment and planning.
Progress Monitoring Exercises
1. The indicator of common variance of two variables.
2. A developmental score that may not be very useful to interpret.
3. The visual representation when more scores are located above the mean.
4. An extensive clinical developmental interview that is used to make a determination of an
autism spectrum disorder.
5. One component of this legislation was to improve teacher quality.
6. This test includes a working memory index, perceptual reasoning index, and a processing
speed index as well as verbal measures.
7. This measure indicates how much error may be on a test based on the score’s distance
from the mean.
8. When students from a specific group are overrepresented or underrepresented in specific
eligibility categories.
9. These instruments are structured to ensure that all students are administered the items in
the same manner so that comparisons can be made more reliably.
10. This will assist teachers in determining the function of problematic behaviors.
Part II
11. Both ___ and ___ require that students be instructed using research-based interventions.
12. The ___ includes a measure of the student’s attitude toward math.
13. The square root of 1 – .r is one variable used to determine the ___.
14. On the UNIT, the ___ subtest uses a pencil and paper to measure reasoning and planful
behavior.
15. ___ is noted by a vertical line on the student data graph.
16. The blending of isolated sounds into a whole word is called ___.
17. The ___ is a measure of preschool students’ language development that is based on a
two-dimensional language model.
18. In order to determine if a student is within the range of mental retardation, cognitive
ability and ___ are assessed.
19. IDEA requires that ___ is obtained prior to assessment.
20. ___ are a group of disorders that are characterized by abnormalities in communication,
social interactions, and repetitive patterns of behavior.
Chapter 12 Test Bank
True and False
1. The number of students with disabilities graduating from high school with a standard
diploma is steadily decreasing.
2. Research indicates that students with disabilities are more likely to graduate if they are
required to pass a high school exit examination.
3. Students must be invited to meetings when transition services are being discussed.
4. Transition services are to be based on the student’s needs as related to assessed strengths,
preferences, and interests.
5. Transition planning relies solely on the data provided by the student.
6. A student’s IEP must include transition goals.
7. Districts are required to ensure interagency collaboration for transition planning.
8. Transition planning is the assessment of skills, academic and otherwise, applied in
everyday living.
9. Transition assessments should not only be culturally and linguistically fair, but also
culture/language enhanced.
10. Employing a person with a disability with persons without disabilities is called job
coaching.
Multiple Choice
1. At what age does a student reach the “age of majority” in most states?
2. Federally speaking, at what age must transition planning begin?
3. Meetings that evaluate and determine a student’s needs following high school are called
what?
4. Age-appropriate measures of academics, functional skills, and independent living that
determine a student’s needs following high school are called what?
5. Students with disabilities who are least likely to receive a high school diploma are
students with which of the following?
6. Districts must report on which of the following regarding their success with transition
planning?
7. How often must a transition plan be updated and re-evaluated?
A. Every 6 months
B. Every year
C. Every two years
D. On a continuous basis
8. The ability to make one’s needs known and to advocate for oneself is known as which of
the following?
A. Self-management
B. Self-determination
C. Transition planning
D. Transition assessment
9. Which of the following items is not likely to provide effective transition programs?
A. Programs that actively involve students
B. Career programs that promote awareness and teach skills
C. Programs based on a standardized approach
D. Engage students in meaningful learning
10. Employing a person with a disability with persons without disabilities for (at least)
minimum wage is called which of the following?
A. Supported employment
B. Self-determination
C. Transition planning
D. Job coaching
11. Often a job coach may be used in which of the following?
A. Independent employment strategies
B. Vocational assessment
C. Supported employment
D. Post-secondary interventions
12. This test assesses the student’s beliefs about his or her ability to make his or her needs
known, to make decisions, to establish his or her own goals, and to understand his or her
feelings in different situations.
A. Self-Determination Battery
B. Kaufman Functional Assessment Skills Test
C. Brigance Transition Inventory
D. Transitional Planning Inventory, Second Edition
13. This instrument assesses the examinee’s skill in performing math– and reading-related
tasks carried out in everyday life.
A. Self-Determination Battery
B. Kaufman Functional Assessment Skills Test
C. Brigance Transition Inventory
D. Transitional Planning Inventory, Second Edition
14. Offered in multiple languages, this instrument requires informants to rate the student’s
current functioning in areas such as employment, communication, money management,
and interpersonal relationships.
A. Self-Determination Battery
B. Kaufman Functional Assessment Skills Test
C. Brigance Transition Inventory
D. Transitional Planning Inventory, Second Edition
15. A comprehensive criterion-reference assessment covering a range of skills needed for
transition, each page provides a specific, measureable objective that can be included
among or adapted for the student’s transition IEP objectives.
A. Self-Determination Battery
B. Kaufman Functional Assessment Skills Test
C. Brigance Transition Inventory
D. Transitional Planning Inventory, Second Edition
Short Answer
1. What are the reporting requirements of the transition plan to be included in the IEP, as set
by the Office of Special Education Programs?
2. What is the difference between transition planning and transition assessment?
3. Discuss two evidenced-based practices that, when employed, have positive effects for
successful transition planning.
4. Identify the five criteria offered in Kohler’s (1996) taxonomy of transition planning.
5. Discuss three of Clark’s (1996) suggestions for assessment in transition planning.
6. Identify the informants who typically provide data into the transition process.
7. Identify at least three different types of assessments that can be used in the transition
process.
8. What types of assessments does the National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance
Center suggest take place for transition purposes?
9. Discuss two negative outcomes that are often associated with poor transition planning.
10. Explain the procedures that must take place when a student reaches the age of majority.
Chapter 12 Test Bank Answer Key
True and False
Multiple Choice
Short Answer
Chapter 13
Chapter Focus
When a student does not respond to interventions by teachers and other professionals, she or he
may be referred for a more comprehensive assessment as part of the problem-solving process.
Following assessment, the team meets to determine if the student requires special education
support. If the student is determined to be eligible for services, the team uses test data to design
educational goals and objectives.
This chapter provides suggestions for interpreting test results and designing educational goals for
appropriate interventions. You will be presented with a complete case that includes test scores,
interpretations, goals, and objectives. Test results help educators make decisions about
educational interventions, planning, and possible eligibility for special education services. After
the professional interprets a student’s test results from norm-referenced tests, classroom
observations, informal assessment, and parental input, team members use the results as part of
the data to make a decision concerning eligibility, interventions, and if age appropriate, long-
term transition plans. The teacher then uses curriculum-based assessment, teacher-made tests,
and direct measurement techniques to monitor progress and adapt instruction.
Check Your Understanding
Activity 13.1
1. What general criteria are used to determine if a student is functioning within the range of
mental retardation?
2. Which term listed in Table 13.1 is used when the student has communication problems
affecting developmental progress?
3. Which term listed in Table 13.1 indicates that a student has discrepancies between ability
and academic performance?
4. Behavioral observations, clinical interviews, information from multiple informants, and
projective tests are used in determining what disability?
5. Which tests are typically administered to assess for the possibility of learning disabilities?
6. For what categories of disabilities are classroom observations recommended as part the
assessment process?
7. What are the key components of assessment for autism spectrum disorders?
Apply Your Knowledge
How are the characteristics of students with attention disorders with hyperactivity and the
characteristics of students with attention disorders, inattentive type, similar? How are they
different?
Activity 13.2
1. Before a decision is made that involves educational or intellectual ability, screening for
___ should be completed.
2. If there appears to be a conflict in the home or emotional or behavioral problems are
suspected, the student should be referred for ___.
3. If a student has average or above intellectual functioning, average emotional/behavioral
functioning, and average adaptive behavior skills, but has significant difficulty in
academic areas and specific fine-motor ability, she or he may be determined to have ___.
4. A student who is below expectancy in all academic areas, is subaverage in intellectual
functioning, and has below-average adaptive behavior may be found to be functioning
within the range of ___.
5. A student who has a communication problem that is affecting her or his relationships
with peers and her or his ability to progress in school may have a ___.
6. A student who has impulsive behavior, acts out, has difficulty completing schoolwork,
exhibits too much activity when observed, and whose parents and teachers rate as having
these types of behavioral problems may be found to have ___.
Apply Your Knowledge
The initial stage of the assessment process should be concerned with