AEPS -3 Test Overview

An effective linked system is possible only if it has a measurement instrument designed to collect children’s performance data that can be used across all of its elements. Without a reliable, valid measure that yields information for developing functional goals/outcomes and teaching/intervention content, the system will likely produce poor outcomes. The measure should also provide a valid, reliable means of monitoring progress over time. To be appropriate for use with infants and young children, an assessment and progress monitoring measure should meet the following criteria:

• Focus on use by the people who interact regularly with the child (teachers, assistants, interventionists, parents) in familiar settings (home, classroom, child care)
• Reflect the curricular content of intervention efforts
• Provide a logical developmental sequence of items that can be used as intervention guidelines
• Accommodate a range of children
• Specify performance criteria that indicate whether a child has a particular skill and whether the skill is a functional part of the child’s repertoire
• Have reliability and validity data that support the measure’s use

The AEPS-3 Test is a curriculum-based assessment developed for use by service delivery personnel and specialists to assess and evaluate the skills and abilities of infants and young children. Examples of service delivery personnel include center-based interventionists, child care providers, home visitors, and teachers; specialists include communication specialists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and psychologists. The AEPS-3 Test is designed to yield appropriate information for developing individualized family service plan (IFSP) and individualized education program (IEP) goals/outcomes and teaching/intervention content, and for monitoring progress. This chapter discusses the target population of children for whom the AEPS-3 Test was designed, the content and organization of the test, the value of team collaboration in administering the test, and the use of test outcomes to help select goals and objectives, design teaching/intervention efforts, and monitor progress.

TARGET POPULATION

AEPS-3 Test items cover the developmental range from birth to 6 years. Items focus on determining a child’s skill level across eight important early developmental areas: Fine Motor, Gross Motor, Adaptive, Social-Communication, Social-Emotional, Cognitive, Literacy, and Math. The AEPS-3 Test is generally appropriate for children whose chronological age falls between 3 months and 6 years.

The test may be appropriate for older children with moderate to severe disabilities, although for a child chronologically older than 6 years of age, significant modifications may be necessary to ensure appropriate wording of items, criteria, and suggested testing procedures. The test is designed for use with children who are developing typically, children who are at risk, and children who have disabilities. Chapter 6 in Volume 1 provides information about using AEPS-3 with children and families who have diverse needs, such as children who have motor and sensory problems and children who are dual language learners.

CONTENT AND ORGANIZATION OF THE AEPS-3 TEST

Using the AEPS-3 Test for assessment and progress monitoring allows teachers, interventionists, and specialists to generate a comprehensive profile of a child’s behavior in familiar environments, as opposed to a narrow description of one aspect of the child’s behavior. Each of the test’s eight areas collects a wide range of information on children’s developmental status, with each area encompassing a particular set of skills, behaviors, or information traditionally considered to be related developmental phenomena. In the test, these are called strands—for example, the Gross Motor area’s Movement and Coordination strand groups behaviors related to movement while standing and walking.

In some cases, test items assess skills related to more than one area of development—for example, a smile can be both a social skill and a motor skill. Where such items occur in the test, each item is assigned to only one area—that is, the item is not duplicated in any other area it might also legitimately be used to assess. AEPS-3 Test items are arranged to make it as efficient as possible to assess a child’s ability to perform a particular behavior within a developmental sequence of skills. Each strand contains a series of test items referred to as goals and objectives. These items can be used to write IFSPs and IEPs. Goals target important skills, such as walking without support or producing multiple-word sentences. Objectives are components of or precursor skills that lead to the associated goals—they are easier, discrete component skills that enable the person administering the test to accurately pinpoint a child’s level within a developmental sequence. AEPS-3 Test goals and objectives can be used to develop goals and objectives on IEPs, and AEPS-3 Test goals can serve as outcomes on IFSPs.

Whenever possible, strands and goals are arranged from easier or developmentally earlier skills to more difficult or developmentally more advanced skills. The objectives under each goal are listed in descending order of difficulty, with the most difficult items first and the less difficult items following sequentially.

USES OF TEST OUTCOMES

COLLABORATIVE TEAM ASSESSMENT

Programs that provide services and care to young children have a variety of staffing patterns. Many programs have more than one interdisciplinary team specialist who is regularly available to children and families. These specialists are encouraged to participate in administering curriculum-based assessments such as the AEPS-3 Test because including them on the assessment team helps ensure that children are assessed appropriately and comprehensively. In center-based assessments of groups of children, the team members may choose to participate by observing and interacting with the children at particular times. For example, the communication specialist might record a language sample for the Social-Communication portion of the Child Observation Data Form (CODF) during snack time, whereas the physical or occupational therapist might complete the Fine Motor and Gross Motor portions of the CODF during free play. Another alternative is for the specialist to observe and score the items in their own area of expertise while a child care provider moves children through a series of assessment activities.

AEPS-3 Test results can be used for the following purposes:

• Assess the current developmental status of children from birth to 6 years of age
• Select target goals and objectives/outcomes for IFSPs and IEPs
• Monitor progress over time toward targeted goals and objectives
• Determine eligibility for early intervention and early childhood special education (EI/ECSE) services## Assessing Developmental Status

Combining results across the AEPS-3 Test’s eight important developmental areas makes it possible to construct a comprehensive picture of the skills children can perform and the information they have and can use. Test results do not address age norms but rather provide the necessary data to determine what children currently can do. This information is essential to providing a baseline from which to view sub- sequent changes in children (progress monitoring).

Selecting Target Goals and Objectives or Outcomes

Because AEPS-3 Test results provide a detailed picture of a child’s current repertoire, it becomes a straightforward matter to select subsequent teaching/intervention targets. Test results provide a comprehensive picture of each child’s developmental skill level, and the test content that remains lays out the subsequent developmental sequence to help the child improve their skills and increase their information base. Users of the AEPS-3 Test can rely on the test’s content to offer the information they need to help them select goals and objectives for their next teaching/intervention targets.

Determining Teaching/Intervention Content

AEPS-3 Test results link directly with AEPS-3 Curriculum content. Using the goals and objectives selected as their next targets, professionals can go directly to the AEPS-3 Skills Matrix in Appendix B of Volumes 3, 4, or 5 to select appropriate routines and activities and related curriculum content. Section I of Volumes 3–5 describes how to locate the appropriate sections of the curriculum to address selected goals and objectives.

Monitoring Progress Over Time

Because initial test results allow test users to determine a child’s developmental status at a particular point in time, readministering the test provides information on changes in the child over time. For exam- ple, if a toddler is not walking at the time of the initial test and that skill becomes one of the targeted out- comes, subsequent administrations of the test can provide information about the child’s progress toward walking.

Determining Eligibility for Services

Test results can also be used to help determine a child’s eligibility for publicly funded services—for example, by comparing information about the child’s developmental status from the test results to age- expected cutoff scores. Such a comparison will reveal whether the child is performing as expected for their age. State regulations determine children’s eligibility for services, and AEPS-3 Test results can be used to determine whether children qualify for those services. Chapter  8 provides details about using test results to determine eligibility.