DPHD Newsletter
Volume 25, Number 2, Spring, 2007
The Division for Physical and Health Disabilities (DPHD)
A Division of the Council for Exceptional Children
1110 North Glebe Road, Suite 300
Arlington, VA 22201-5704
President’s Message
Pamela K. DeLoach
The CEC convention in Louisville was exciting from the start to the finish with “THUNDER OVER LOUISVILLE”. As I was watching the fireworks, I was reflecting back on the week with DPHD and how proud I was of our accomplishments!! What accomplishments, you ask? Let me fill you in:
v The leadership of DPHD came together knowing what the issues were and were prepared to address some of the difficult issues. I want to thank all of the board members (and others) who attended our meetings. We have such dedicated folks that we even had some who had to stay home but they sent reports and answered questions via cell phones (thank you Adrienne). It was truly amazing!
v We knew we wanted to meet as many of DPHD’s wonderful presenters as possible. Our sessions were filled at the beginning, and the amazing part is that most of the participants stayed for the whole sessions, which tells me that the presenters were giving useful information. (If you haven’t been to CEC, there are approximately 25 sessions to choose from at any one time, and “session hopping” is an art in itself.)
v Our annual social with DVI was wonderful as usual. It was time to meet with other professionals and celebrate our accomplishments, as well as discuss some of the issues facing those of us working with low-incidence disabilities.
Many worked hard to get to the convention and it really showed that we had come together to benefit DPHD. This year is not yet half over, and our work does not stop because the convention is over. Now is the time for DPHD to look ahead and plan for the future. May is a tough month for everyone as proposals for the next year’s convention are due and most of us are wrapping up the current school year. As June approaches, we will be looking at our third phone conference. This year we want to focus on increasing our membership and delivering the services promised to our members.
Membership has always been an issue for CEC and its divisions. Currently the “magic number” is 700 members to have a division remain active without a letter of exception; the proposal before the board of directors is 1.5% of CEC total membership. At this point our membership falls below the 700 number as well as the 1.5% of CEC total membership. As your president, I’m advocating for our division to remain active, no matter what our membership number is, as long the following is in place: we have an active board and we remain true to our members by providing services promised.
As I close for the
summer, I want to remind you that DPHD will still be working during the summer
months AND
WE NEED YOU. Please consider donating a small amount of time and take
pleasure in knowing that you have made a difference for DPHD, as well as
teachers that will be serving our students with physical, health, severe or
multiple disabilities. I can be reached at
pdeloach@tampabay.rr.com.
Have a wonderful summer,
Pam
Cognitive Assessment of Nonverbal Young Children
who have Significant Motor Disabilities
Dr. Meg Cooper, University of West Georgia
(based on a presentation for the annual convention of the Council for Exceptional Children;
Louisville, KY; April 19, 2007)
Intelligence tests are widely used as one of the major determiners of special education identification and placement. However, when students have significant motor impairment and are nonverbal, accurate assessment of intelligence, or cognitive ability, may be confounded by the nature of the physical disability itself (Johnson, Wilhelm, Eisert, & Halperin-Phillips, 2001). The importance of accurate assessment that is not influenced by other factors is recognized in the nondiscriminatory assessment requirement of federal special education law. Current special education regulations require that…
assessment results accurately reflect the child's aptitude or achievement level or whatever other factors
the test purports to measure, rather than reflecting the child's impaired sensory, manual, or speaking
skills (unless those skills are the factors that the test purports to measure).
(Department of Education, 2006, §300.304 (c) (3))
Thus, if one is measuring intelligence of a child who has significant motor impairment and is nonverbal, results must reflect the child’s cognitive ability and not the impact of movement and speech limitations. Despite these requirements, individuals with motor disabilities may be penalized when cognitive function is assessed and may be inappropriately labeled as intellectually disabled or as performing within a lower range of intellectual function than truly is the case.
Solutions for appropriate cognitive assessment of young children who have significant motor disabilities and are nonverbal may be divided into two broad categories: use of appropriate tests and use of individually appropriate input and output modes. The information available regarding nonverbal testing appears to be increasing (e.g., McCallum, Bracken, & Wasserman, 2000), in part as a function of attention to linguistic and cultural differences. However, just because a test is identified as nonverbal does not mean it would be appropriate for a youngster with significant motor impairment. Even a test generally considered appropriate for use with a youngster who has motor disability and is nonverbal may not meet the needs of each individual child. A second option is careful selection of accommodations of input and output modes (modalities for providing information to the child and allowing the child to respond to test items). In many cases, the combination of significant motor impairment and lack of speech may require a combination of these two solutions: using a more appropriate test with necessary accommodations. For example, a test such as the Pictorial Test of Intelligence (French, 2001), which includes arrays of visual stimuli to which youngsters typically respond by using direct selection (pointing or eye gaze) to indicate their choices, might be modified to accommodate scanning – the evaluator drawing the child’s attention to each of the alternatives, then going through them again with the child asked to respond when his or her choice is presented the second time. In the case of a youngster with a disability such as cerebral palsy, use of techniques to normalize the youngster’s muscle tone during testing might be useful in improving his or her ability to visually scan and to reliably respond.
In many instances, personnel who administer intelligence tests and school administrators may be unfamiliar with the specific implications of significant motor impairment combined with lack of speech and of options available for appropriate assessment. Service providers and family members who are familiar with these types of disabilities and with individual children need to advocate for implementation of the nondiscriminatory assessment requirement, especially for intelligence testing. Additional participation from these persons may involve assisting with the actual testing, suggesting appropriate tests and input/output modalities to be used, and/or teaching the child how to respond to the testing situation. Preparing the child for testing may include teaching visual attention, developing and reinforcing a reliable response mode (e.g., eye gaze), and convincing the youngster of the importance of responding repeatedly to the evaluator.
Presentation of this material at the CEC conference included several case studies in addition to informational content. Case studies are useful in providing others with information about the importance and possibility of appropriate testing and the options and strategies for doing so. The information from this presentation currently is being compiled as an article for submission to the DPHD journal, Physical Disabilities: Education and Related Services.
References
Department of Education. (2006, August 14). 34 C.F.R. Parts 300 and 301: Final rule. Federal Register, 46753 et seq.
French, J. L. (2001). Pictorial test of intelligence (2nd ed.). Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.
Johnson, M. R., Wilhelm, C., Eisert, D., & Halperin-Phillips, D. H. (2001). Assessment of children with motor impairments. In R. J. Simeonsson & S. L Rosenthal (Eds.), Psychological and developmental assessment (pp. 205-224). New York: Guilford.
McCallum, S., Bracken, B., & Wasserman, J. (2000). Essentials of nonverbal assessment. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley.
The Status of Our Standards
Joni L. Baldwin, Ed.D.
Knowledge & Skills Subcommittee Chairperson
CEC divisions are currently working on updating their Performance Based Standards. This includes reviewing current standards and deciding if they should be revalidated, revised or discarded. To be validated and included, each standard proposed or maintained must have research citations to support the need for this item to be a standard. The Division for Developmental Disabilities was the first division to complete this task, with the Division for Gifts and Talents completed in 2006 and the Division for Early Childhood Common Core completed at the January 2007 workgroup meeting, and their Advanced Set was reviewed in Louisville. In addition, the standards for Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, Learning Disabilities and Special Education Administrators were “edited and smoothed” in Louisville and will be going out for survey from their members shortly.
The Division for Physical/Health Disabilities (DPHD) is also reviewing/revising current professional standards. At the 2006 convention in Salt Lake City, the “set work group” was developed as part of the Critical Issues and Leadership subcommittee. The committee members include Kathryn Heller, Mari Beth Coleman Martin, Adrienne Duris, Carla Hart, Sherwood Best, Margaret Cooper, and Joni Baldwin, Knowledge and Skills (K & S) Chairperson. The first task included reviewing our current standards, determining if they should stay or go, and revising them if necessary. This task is in progress, with a large part of the standards reviewed and revised at the 2007 Critical Issues subcommittee meeting. Peter Mezei and Janie Avant joined the group in Louisville. The next step is to find/provide research citations to document that the proposed standards are truly competencies unique and needed for teachers of children with Physical and/or Medical Disabilities.
Once the standards and research validation is completed, this information will go back to the Knowledge and Skills Sub-committee for “smoothing and editing”, and cross checking to ensure the standards are not repetitious of Common Core standards. Once this is completed, the standards will be sent out to a representative group of stakeholders to determine the relevance of each item to the field. If you would like to be a survey participant, please email your contact information/email address to Joni Baldwin at baldwiJL@notes.udayton.edu. The results of the survey will then be returned to the set work group, and then the K&S subcommittee for final auditing, then submission to the Professional Standards and Practice Committee for adoption into the CEC Standards.
Standards developed by each CEC division are published in the “Red Book”, What Every Special Educator Must Know: Ethics, Standards, and Guidelines for Special Educators, 5th Edition. This guide is available as a download or as a purchase through www.cec.sped.org. The “Red Book” contains performance-based standards for all beginning special education teachers, the CEC Code of Ethics, and standards for administrators, para-educators, educational diagnosticians, and transition specialists.
DPHD is Accepting Nominations for Awards
Wetzel Scholarship
The Elizabeth Wetzel Scholarship awards up to $500 to students working toward a teaching credential in physical and health disabilities. To apply for this scholarship, submit the following:
Personal Information: Name, telephone number, email address, school attending, type of degree.
Summary Statement: A 300-400 word essay stating:
1. Professional philosophy
2. Goals for teaching students with physical and health disabilities
3. Statement of progress towards these goals
4. Official transcript
5. Two letters of support from instructors and/or colleagues.
Applications are due by March 1, then are reviewed in April at the Executive Committee meeting at the CEC Annual Convention, with the award presented for either summer or fall tuition and expenses.
Joan Wald Baken Award
The Joan Wald Baken Award was established in 1997 to honor the memory of the devoted member of DPHD who dedicated herself to individuals with physical and health disabilities. Up to two awards are given annually to individuals whose accomplishments represent exemplary advocacy and educational practice. The recipient must be involved in direct delivery of services to individuals with physical and health disabilities in schools, hospitals, clinics, homes, or in the community. Self nominations or nominations by colleagues will be accepted. To apply for this award, submit the following:
Personal Information: Name, address, telephone number, email.
Summary Statement: A 300-500 word narrative stating qualifications for the award, including:
Applications are due March 1, are reviewed by the DPHD Executive Committee before April 1, with the award presented at the DPHD Business Meeting at the CEC Annual Convention.
Send completed packets for either award to:
Pamela DeLoach
6711 Spanish Moss Circle
Tampa, FL 33625
pdeloach@tampabay.rr.com
Convention Re-Cap!
DPHD sponsored 12 sessions and 2 poster presentations, and co-sponsored five more sessions! Our topics ranged from Tourette’s Syndrome to HIV/AIDS to Transition to Puppet Shows. We want to thank all of our presenters and encourage you to consider developing your presentation into an article for our journal or newsletter. Our journal editor is Barbara Kulik and can be reached at Barbara.kulik@csun.edu. Newsletter editor information is listed below. Thanks again to everyone for attending and supporting our sessions. Hope to see you in Boston April 2-5, 2008!
Editor’s Note: Questions or comments about the newsletter? Want to contribute an article for the next newsletter? Please contact me at baldwijl@notes.udayton.edu, or 213A Chaminade Hall, University of Dayton, 300 College Park, Dayton, OH 45469-0525. We value your input! Joni Baldwin, Ed.D.