Assessment and Intervention Planning
Domain 3 - Assessment and Intervention Planning
This domain tests the assessment sequence: define the concern, gather multi-source data, decide eligibility or service need, write measurable goals, and monitor progress. Accuracy means knowing which tool answers which question.
Core concepts
- Ecological assessment: interviews, direct observation across settings, record review, teacher/parent/self-report rating scales, and a social developmental history - triangulated rather than single-source.
- Technical quality: reliability (consistency), validity (measures what it claims), normative sample fit (age, culture, language), standard scores and percentiles. Never score a norm-referenced instrument outside its standardization.
- Screening vs. diagnosis: universal screeners (for example BASC-3 BESS or SAEBRS) flag risk; they do not establish eligibility or diagnosis.
- Functional behavior assessment: operationalize the behavior, identify antecedents and consequences, hypothesize function (attention, escape, access to tangibles, sensory), then build a behavior intervention plan with replacement skills and a data-collection method.
- Eligibility frameworks: IDEA categories require adverse educational impact and need for specially designed instruction; Section 504 requires a physical or mental impairment substantially limiting a major life activity. Response-to-intervention data can support, but does not replace, a comprehensive evaluation.
- Goal writing: SMART format - baseline, target, criterion, and method - with progress monitoring every few weeks rather than annually.
Worked example
A student elopes during math. Data show elopement occurs only during independent seatwork and ends when an adult follows. Function: escape from a non-preferred demand plus adult attention. The BIP teaches a break card (replacement behavior), shortens task segments, and reinforces on-task intervals. The goal states the criterion: 80% of intervals across 10 consecutive days.
Traps
Writing goals with no baseline; treating a screening score as a diagnosis; recommending a more restrictive placement before less restrictive supports are tried and documented.