Supporting School Districts with Education Assessments

The ABAS-3 combines all-new norms with updated item content to create the leading adaptive skills assessment. Retaining all features that made the second edition the preferred instrument for evaluating adaptive behavior, the ABAS-3 is even easier to administer and score. Comprehensive, convenient, and cost-effective, this behavior rating scale measures daily living skills—what people actually do, or can do, without assistance from others. The ABAS-3 is particularly useful for evaluating those with developmental delays, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), intellectual disability, learning disabilities, neuropsychological disorders, and sensory or physical impairments.

 

A Wholistic View of the Child’s Abilities across environments

Parents, family members, teachers, daycare staff, supervisors, counselors, or others who are familiar with the daily activities of the individual being evaluated can complete these forms. The Adult Form can even be administered as a self-reporting tool. The items may be read aloud to raters who have low sight or poor reading skills.

 

Why do Districts choose to utilize the ABAS-3?

Although it’s possible to evaluate adaptive skills using only a single rater, gathering ratings from several people will provide a more complete assessment. Multiple ratings show how the individual performs in various settings. When different forms are used by different raters to evaluate an individual’s adaptive skills, a comparative report can be generated to show areas that warrant further attention.

 

Skills and Domains Consistent with AAIDD, DSM-5, IDEA, and RTI Guidelines

The ABAS-3 covers three broad adaptive domains: Conceptual, Social, and Practical. Within these domains, the ABAS-3 assesses 11 adaptive skill areas (each form assesses 9 or 10 skill areas based on age range). Items focus on practical, everyday activities required to function, meet environmental demands, care for oneself, and interact with others effectively and independently. Raters use a four-point response scale to indicate whether the individual can perform each activity and, if so, how frequently the individual performs it when needed. The ABAS-3 aligns with the AAIDD, DSM-5, and IDEA specifications and works well within an RTI context. 

 

With the ABAS-3 Hopkins Education Services can assist districts in:

• Creating simple, straightforward intervention activities based on areas of need

• Implementing developmentally appropriate strategies to help improve functioning at home, at school, at work, and in the community

• Crafting versatile activities that can be used with an individual, with a small group, or in the classroom.

• Provide suggestions for guiding teacher and family involvement in intervention programs

• Progress Monitoring

 

Inform Diagnosis and Intervention Plans

Measuring adaptive skills is important when a disorder or other condition affects an individual’s daily functioning. Whether clinicians are trying to identify the best learning environment for a child or are ensuring that an older individual can live independently, the ABAS-3 provides the information necessary to make appropriate clinical decisions and design effective interventions. Its applications are almost endless.

No matter the setting, the age of the individual, or the nature of their limitations, the ABAS-3 can help:

• Assess adaptive skills

• Diagnose and classify disabilities and disorders

• Identify strengths and weaknesses

• Document and monitor progress over time

• Develop treatment plans and training goals

• Determine eligibility for services and disability benefits

• Evaluate the capability to live or work independently

The Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement Third Edition (KTEA™-3) is an individually administered battery that provides an in-depth assessment and evaluation of key academic skills.

Empower all your students to succeed and receive a deeper understanding of achievement gaps with the new KTEA-3.

 

Benefits

• Evaluate academic skills in reading, math, written language, and oral language.

• Measure progress or response to intervention and identify learning disabilities, and adjust instruction based on performance.

• Identify learning disabilities and achievement gaps.

• Motivate low-functioning students using novel tasks.

• Covers IDEA and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).

 

Key Features of KTEA-3

• Dyslexia Index Scores for screenings, research, and inclusion in an assessment battery. 

• New subtests include Writing Fluency, Silent Reading Fluency, Math Fluency, and Reading Vocabulary.

• New norms for ages 4:0 through 25:11 and for grades pre-K through 12.

• Mapping to Common Core Standards to assist with compliance issues.

• Behavioral checklist and intervention suggestions for parents and teachers.

 

Subtests

• Phonological Processing (PP)

• Math Concepts & Applications (MCA)

• Letter & Word Recognition (LWR)

• Math Computation (MC)

• Nonsense Word Decoding (NWD)

• Writing Fluency (WF)

• Silent Reading Fluency (SRF)

• Math Fluency (MF)

• Reading Comprehension (RC)

• Written Expression (WE)

• Associational Fluency (AF)

• Spelling (SP)

• Object Naming Facility (ONF)

• Reading Vocabulary (RV)

• Letter Naming Facility (LNF)

• Listening Comprehension (LC)

• Word Recognition Fluency (WRF)

• Oral Expression (OE)

• Decoding Fluency (DF)

The key to developing comprehensive IEE/IEP writing goals and monitoring progress is the TOWL-4. The TOWL-4 is a norm-referenced, comprehensive diagnostic test of written expression that identifies students who need special help, documents specific areas of strength or weakness, and monitors the effectiveness of remedial efforts to improve writing skills.

 

Benefits

• Identify students who write poorly and need special help.

• Determine strengths and weaknesses in various writing abilities.

• Document progress in special writing programs.

The Transition Planning Inventory−Second Edition (TPI-2) is an instrument to help plan the post-secondary transition of students who are benefiting from special education (SPED) services. It aims to identify the strengths, needs, and interests of students with disabilities.

 

Key information is gathered from students, parents, guardians, and school personnel through the use of rating scales and open-ended questions. The TPI-2 can serve as the main vehicle for identifying transition needs or complement existing procedures that are being used in a school district. In many cases, it can serve as a framework for acquiring more detailed assessment information. The most important outcomes are to identify transition preferences, interests, strengths, and needs regardless of methodology; develop necessary plans; and act on resultant goals.