Evaluation and Assessment Summary

For an initial evaluation and assessment, initial assessment AND for an annual review of the IFSP, all of the following domains must be addressed: 

• Physical development such as:  

  • Health (includes medical, dental, nutrition);  

  • Vision/Hearing (screening, glasses, hearing aids, history of ear infections); 

  • Fine motor (use of hands and upper body);  

  • Gross motor (quality and function of movement, equipment/devices); and  

  • Other Sensory issues, if appropriate

• Communication (understanding, expression, intelligibility, use of language, language skills and pre-literacy) 

• Cognition (thinking, play skills, problem solving) 

• Social Emotional (engagement, response to caregivers, coping) 

• Adaptive (feeding, dressing, toileting, sleeping)

Emphasis should be given to the child’s functional abilities and strengths within daily routines. Include information on what the child can do and what he needs to learn. The child’s learning style may be addressed so that natural abilities can be more easily identified and strengthened. 

For children with a diagnosed condition with a high probability of resulting in developmental delay or disorder

You are not required to conduct norm-referenced testing in each developmental area. Make sure to document:

• Child’s medical and other records that will be used to establish eligibility under Part C

• Ongoing assessment information in all five developmental areas (i.e., HELP, etc.)

For children who are referred, but have not been diagnosed with a condition with high probability of resulting in developmental delay or disorder

All five developmental areas must be addressed through norm-referenced testing regardless of the primary developmental area under which the child is thought to most likely be determined eligible. 

For example, if a review of all information gathered through the referral indicates that communication development is the concern, the team must still address all five developmental areas through norm-referenced testing.

Make sure to document all areas of development with both:

• Standardized evaluation tool (i.e., Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-4, Preschool Language Scales-5, etc.)

• Ongoing assessment information (i.e., HELP, etc.)

For an annual IFSP, this information comes from the ongoing assessments and procedures for determining progress on outcomes. The Evaluation/Assessment Summary of subsequent IFSPs document information integrated from ongoing assessment, reports of parents and other caregivers and observations made by service providers.