Transdisciplinary Activity Assessment for Young Children With multiple Disabilities: A Program Planning Approach

Shawna is approaching her fifth birthday and will be entering kindergarten in the fall. Currently she attends a Head Start program. Her team (which includes her family) wants to prepare for her transition to kindergarten and have begun talking about how to include Shawna in kindergarten activities. Shawna's team recognizes that a good assessment would facilitate this transition. However, their school district has relied primarily on traditional assessments to plan educational programs for Shawna. This type of assessment tells the team that Shawna functions between a six-month and 18-month developmental level. While it gives them information regarding which developmental mile-stones she has not reached, it does not tell them how to include Shawna in typical kindergarten activities.