Life Skills Assessment Options in

Transition Planning

Gary M. Clark, Ed.D.

Department of Special Education
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045
gclark@ku.edu

Life Skills and Appropriate Measurement

of Functional Achievement
Transition servicesa results-oriented

process that is focused on improving the

academic and functional achievement of
the child with a disability to facilitate the
childs movement from school to
postschool activities

Life Skills and Appropriate Measurement

of Functional Achievement
The IEP for students 16 and older (and younger
when appropriate), must have:
..appropriate measurable postsecondary goals
based upon age-appropriate transition
assessments related to training, education,
employment, and, where appropriate,
independent living skills;

What do we mean by life skills?

Daily

living skills

Independent
Community

living skills

participation skills

Examples of daily living skills..

Grooming and hygiene
Appropriate choices in nutrition
Appropriate care of clothing
Responsible for personal belongings
Knowing how to respond to symptoms of
illness, accidents, or emergencies
Appropriate use of leisure time
Basic money management skills

Examples of independent living

skills

Mobility and orientation skills (including driving or use

of public transportation)
Advanced skills of clothing selection and clothing care
Advanced skills in personal care (grooming, hygiene,
appropriate fashion choices)
Advanced skills in personal responsibility for nutrition,
fitness, and health care
Advanced skills in money management and consumer
skills
Skills in finding and securing appropriate residential
choices

Examples of community
participation skills

Skills in locating and using community leisure and

recreation facilities
Skills in accessing community agencies (health,
rehabilitation, employment, etc.)
Appropriate consumer skills in the community
Skills in accessing social opportunities for personal
enjoyment and/or personal growth
Interpersonal skills with family and others
Responsible community behavior (civility)
Responsible behavior as a citizen (voting, paying

taxes,obeying laws, volunteering, conservation,etc.)

Assessing Daily Living Skills

with Formal Assessments
Adaptive behavior scales

AAMR Adaptive Behavior Scale

(School Edition)

Adaptive Behavior Inventory

Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale

Scales of Independent Behavior

Street Survival Skills Questionnaire

Assessing Daily Living Skills with

Formal Assessments, contd.
Responsibility and Independence Scale
for Adolescents (RISA)
Kaufman Functional Academic Skills Test
(K-FAST)

Responsibility and Independence Scale

for Adolescents

Ages 12-20, mild disabilities or students at risk

Subscales: Domestic Skills, Money
Management, Citizenship, Personal Planning,
Transportation Skills, Career Development,
Self-Management, Social Maturity, and Social
Communication
Scaled scores and percentile ranks based on
norm groups
Administration time, 30-45 minutes

Assessing Daily Living Skills,

contd.
Commercially available life skills
assessments:

BRIGANCE Life Skills Inventory

Life Centered Career Education

Knowledge and Performance Batteries

LifeSkillsInventory(LSI)

LCCE
Knowledge
Battery

Assessing Independent
Living Skills
Commercially available instruments:

Ansell-Casey Life Skills Assessment (Level

III)

Functional Skills Screening Inventory

General Transition Assessment

Instruments that Include
Vocational/Occupational Assessment
Enderle-Severson Transition Rating
Scales
LCCE Competency Assessment
Knowledge Batteries
Transition Skills Inventory (TSI)
Transition Behavior Scale (2/e) (TBS)
Transition Planning Inventory (TPI-UV)

Assessing Daily Living Skills with

Informal Assessments
Informal assessment options:

Checklists

Interviews

Observations

Situational assessments for specific skills

Ecological or environmental assessments

Functional evaluations

Checklists

1.
2.
3.
4.

Advantages:
Permit assessment of a variety of
behaviors
Permit quick responses
Eliminate students need to write
Quick/efficient for teachers and parents

Checklists

1.
2.

3.
4.

Disadvantages:
Requires reading
Many responses are not easily answered
with Yes/No or a simple check that the
behavior/trait applies most of the time
No chance to immediately probe answers
Problems in reliability

Structured Interviews
A structured interview is an informal
assessment technique, but it has structure to
it.
An interview protocol is used to stay focused
on the area of information desired, but probes
or questions asking for clarification or
examples are permitted.

Examples of Structured
Interview Questions
What chore can you do best at home?
Why do you think that is your best?
Can you plan and prepare a meal for
yourself? For others?
Do you do all of your own laundering of
clothes? If not all, any part of it?
Do you have a drivers license?
Can you use a city bus?

Observations
Life skills observations are more
difficult to do for school personnel.
The obvious alternative is to use
checklists and interviews with
families to take advantage of their
observations.

Assessment in the Context of Life

Skills Environments
Ecological

assessment
Situational assessment
Functional assessment or functional
evaluation

Ecological Assessment
Life

skills ecological assessment

includes task analyses and environmental expectations or demands of the
life skills environments
Involves questions such as: Is ____
asked/required to ____? Are there strict
standards for performance of ___? Is
supervision required? Under what kinds
of conditions are the tasks performed?

Functional Assessment: A
Definition
A functional evaluation or assessment
process is one that is an organized
approach to determining the interests,
needs, preferences, and abilities that an
individual student has in the domains of
daily living skills, and occupational/
employability skills.

Functional Assessment
A functional assessment can use both
formal and informal assessment
procedures to provide a basis for planning
and action.

Situational Assessment

1.
2.
3.

Advantages:
Permits data collection on a variety of
behaviors
Is highly authentic assessment
Permits assessment to occur in the
context of learning, working, social, or
leisure situations in the home, school, or
community

Situational Assessment

4.
5.

Advantages, contd.:
Is more motivating for students than
tests, surveys, interviews, etc.
May be ongoing for a period of time and
increases reliability of assessment data

Situational Assessment

1.

2.
3.

Disadvantages:
Difficult to assess some behaviors
because of a lack of control over the
situational environment
Observers/raters/evaluators cannot be in
the situation at all times
Observers/raters/evaluators in the
situation might change the situation by
being there

Situational Assessment

4.
5.
6.

Disadvantages, contd.:
Is time-consuming for student and
assessment personnel
Requires coordination with a variety of
persons for it to work
Requires high degree of planning and
monitoring

Life Skills Situational Observation

Assessment Questions
Is the student performing the life skills
task(s) of the selected environment?
Does the student perform the task(s)
consistently?
Is the student performing the task(s) at a
satisfactory rate?
Does the student meet secondary
expectations of the targeted task(s)?

Life Skills Situational

Assessment Questions, contd.

Does the student know when errors are

made or when the task is unsatisfactory
because of quality, waste of materials, or
performance rate?

Checklist for Analyzing Performance

Problems (Mager & Pipe (1997)
What

is the performance
discrepancy?
Why is there said to be a problem?
What is the actual performance at
issue?
What is the desired performance?

Checklist for Analyzing Performance

Problems (Mager & Pipe (1997), contd.
Is

it worth pursuing?
What would happen if we left it
alone?
Are our expectations reasonable?
What are the consequences
caused by the discrepancy?

Checklist for Analyzing Performance

Problems (Mager & Pipe (1997)

Can we fix it?

Do the non-performers know what is
expected of them?
Can the non-performers describe
desired performance and expectations?
Are there obvious obstacles to
performance?
Do the non-performers get feedback on

how they
are doing?

Checklist for Analyzing Performance

Problems (Mager & Pipe (1997)

Is desired performance punishing?

What are the consequences of
performing as desired?
Is performance actually punishing or
perceived as punishing?

Checklist for Analyzing Performance

Problems (Mager & Pipe (1997)

Is undesired performance rewarding?

What rewards, prestige, status, or
comfort support the present way of
doing things?
Does misbehaving or goofing off get
more attention than doing it right?

Checklist for Analyzing Performance

Problems (Mager & Pipe (1997)

Are there any consequences at all?

Does desired performance lead to
consequences that the task performer
sees as favorable?
Does non-performance lead to
consequences that the task performer
sees as unfavorable?

Checklist for Analyzing Performance

Problems (Mager & Pipe (1997)
Is it a skill deficiency?
Could the task performer do it in the past?
Is the skill used often enough to maintain
proficiency?

Checklist for Analyzing Performance

Problems (Mager & Pipe (1997)
Can the task be modified?
Can we provide some type of
performance aid?
Can we redesign the environment or
provide other physical help?
Can we transfer part of the job to
someone else or arrange a changing of
jobs?