Hi, I’m Denise and I’d like to share with you a little about me and a little about how I take more detailed data! It has helped me show progress with even my most impaired students.
I consider myself a pretty detail-oriented (read: anal retentive/OCD) person. I learned this method of data collection at my very first clinical practicum. The facility was a specialized school for students with autism. My SLP supervisor used this system for data collection because it gave a much clearer picture of how the student did during the activity and what types of prompts the student required. Instead of the good ole correct, incorrect, or correct with prompt method, which doesn’t give you much information. (I’ve seen many different codes for “correct with prompt”.)
Taking data this way is helpful, especially for your most needy students. You can show progress according to what kind of cues he needed, rather than just plain percentages. It’s obviously a huge improvement if a student needed models to answer questions in September but only needs verbal cues in March. Maybe the overall number of “correct” (independent) responses is about the same, but the level of cueing needed has greatly dropped! Success is success!
So, my tip for January is to start taking more detailed data. It will help you write progress reports, give information anecdotally to parents and teachers, and see a small glimmer of hope where you may not have before. Find the simple codes I use here as a freebie!
Thanks for reading and I hope this tip makes your new year a little less frenzied!
