Evaluationofmaterialsandprocedures PDF

Preview

Summary

Last big assignment over the evaluation of the VBMAPP assessment ...

Description

RUNNIG HEADER: EVALUTION OF TEST MATERIALS AND PROCEDURES OF THE VBMAPP

Evaluation of Test Materials and Procedures of the VB-MAPP Carmen Hernandez Capella University

EVALUATION OF TEST MATERIALS AND PROCEDURES OF THE VBMAPP Introduction The Verbal Behavior Assessment and Placement Program (VBMAPP) was designed to identify the already existing language and language related skills in children with autism and other kinds of developmental disorders (Sundberg 2011). The VBMAPP is an assessment used to compare the skills of a child with autism compared to the skills of a neurotypical peer when dealing with language skills and what their language should look like at their age (VBPress). The VBMAPP measures if a child uses language and certain skills that their typical developing peers use such as: manding, tacting, and their use of intraverbals and echoics (Sundberg 2011), these are then used to create short term and long term goals for the child’s intervention programs that will track their language progress. The population that this test is used on is any child who has a developmental disorder such as autism, the test takers can range anywhere from months old to 4 years old. Test Items and Format The VBmapp was designed to identify the already existing language and language related skills in children with autism and other kinds of developmental disorders (Sundberg 2011). The purpose of this test is to identify existing language within a child as well as language related skills for children with autism as well as other developmental disorders. The VB-MAPP is used to identify 5 social areas; social, motor, laguage, play, and academic skills; they are measured based on assessment progress by age of typical skill development. They measure to see if a child uses language skills in certain conditions and those skills include; echoics, mands, tacts, and intraverbals (Sundberg 2011) The VBMAPP is used to obtain scores on children’s milestones, it is recommend to start from the bottom (earlier milestones) to the top (later milestones) in order to get an accurate

EVALUATION OF TEST MATERIALS AND PROCEDURES OF THE VBMAPP depiction of what this exam measures (Forbes 2016). The VBMAPP test’s if a child can tact nouns and verbs, if the child can frequently and spontaneously mand when the motivation is present, if they can mand for different items that they want, and if they have any kind of behaviors on a scale of 0-5. The 5 items in each domain at the 3 skill levels they test are scored a 1, ½, or a 0 depending on how the child answers and what is observed, scores are also measured by direct testing (D), observation (O), direct testing or observation (E), and time observation (TO) (Forbes 2016). The scores are scored out of 100 with specific points assigned to each of the 5 categories, they can get either a correct response, or an error, and the assessment will be stopped when the child misses 3 milestones in a row per skill area. For this assessment there is no norm score since every child is different and will have a different test than others.

The VBMAPP has some positive aspects to it, the test gives very specific instructions with how it should be ran, when purchasing the VBMAPP the person administering the assignment is given a booklet giving very clear instructions of how to code the responses as well as how to administer the exam, this even includes things such as how to administer the SD’s and exactly what tools/objects are needed to conduct the assessment and this is all included with the purchase of the entire VBMAPP (Forbes 2014). With the purchase of the VBMAPP the person conducting the test is going to be given every single thing that they need in order to conduct the assessment on the child and they are given everything that they need in order to do this. One negative aspect about this assessment is that the VBMAPP is an assessment that is conducted by someone who has a background in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), this person must be a qualified professional that has training and a background in ABA. Without having a background in ABA the person doing the assessment might mistake one operant being tested over another

EVALUATION OF TEST MATERIALS AND PROCEDURES OF THE VBMAPP and therefore score the assessment incorrectly (Barnes, Mellor, & Rehfeldt 2014). Without this knowledge and background in ABA it will not be scored properly. But according to the AERA book, Test documents should specify user qualifications that are required to administer and score a test, as well as the user qualifications needed to interpret the test scores accurately” (AERA 2014). So, to me this is a positive aspect of the assessment. Overall the quality of the appropriateness of the test items and formats as well as the directions, answer sheets, and scores is very appropriate for the assessment being conducted. Since this exam is used to assess children who have autism, having a background in Applied Behavior Analysis is important and is good that it is expected to have a background in something in order to score the assessment correctly. Fair and Appropriate Materials One of the best things about the VBMAPP is its fairness and appropriateness of materials that are used for this assessment. For the VB-MAPP exam the test developers provide a booklet with a mastering score form for the 3 different levels of testing that they provide (Avbpress 2008). Within the VB-MAPP book protocol we see milestone assessments for levels 1, 2, and 3, as well as barrier assessments, transitioning scoring forms, and tasks analysis and skill tracking. Within these different protocols there are specific protocols that need to be followed which include rating a child on a scale from 1-5 in a specific area, whether direct testing was done or observation was done, as well as saying whether barriers are present and how severe the problem is all the way from 0-no problem to 4-severe problem. For the VB-MAPP the booklet clearly describes every single specific task that the child must do/perform during the assessment as well as the specific rating scales and clear instructions on how to run said exam. Being so prepared and having exact scoring guides as well as clear instructions that leaves less room for there to be

EVALUATION OF TEST MATERIALS AND PROCEDURES OF THE VBMAPP offensive content or language that would then be administered to the kids. I do not find any negatives with the test material given to administer the VBMAPP. One of the issues that the VBMAPP has is that there is not a lot of room for modifications to the assessment, since the assessment has a very specific milestones that a child must meet, there is no room to adjust the milestones that the child has to aim (Montallana, Gard, Lotfizadeh, Poling, 2019). The VBMAPP “a five-component program designed to measure verbal behavior, guide individualized instruction needed to address deficits in verbal behavior, and evaluate progress over the course of a treatment program” (Barnes, Mellor, & Rehfeldt 2014). Since this assessment has very specific things it measures and very specific outcomes that they are looking for in order to make an appropriate treatment plan there is not much room for modifications of the questions that are on the assessment especially since it measures milestones as well as where a child should be compared to their neurotypical peer and it also needs to have that background in. According to the AERA Standards book and looking at the standards for supporting documentation, Standard 7.8 states that “Test documentation should include detailed instructions on how a test is to be administered and scored” (AERA 2014). The VBMAPP is one assessment that clearly lays out and has detailed instructions on how this assessment needs to be ran and how it should be scored in the booklet that they offer for the people administering the test.

Use of Technology

EVALUATION OF TEST MATERIALS AND PROCEDURES OF THE VBMAPP With the many advancement in technology the VBMAPP has also had to evolve and grow in order to be able to be used by as many people as possible. One thing that has come out of advancements in technology would have to be that the this assessment is available in a booklet format and now it is being offered in an electronic version that is downloadable in an app on: “iPhone, iPad, Web (Web version at vbmappapp.com allows PC, Mac, laptop, Android phones and Tablets to all use the app)” (VBMAPP.com 2020). With his new advancement we see that this assessment has been able to be transferred to use online, this makes it more accessible and gives more people the opportunity to be able to download and then use if they have the proper background in being able to conduct this assessment. This takes the previous format of the VBMAPP and makes it be able to be used from a computer or a phone instead of from the booklet like it had to be used before. The materials for the assessment remain the same since you need physical object to conduct this assessment, but with the use of technology now it is easier and safer to take data because it will save it in an online format instead of on paper where it could easily become ruined or lost faster.

Synthesis of Findings The VBMAPP has a lot of strengths when it comes to test items and materials. Now with the online version of this assessment being available it is easier and more readily available to people making it easier for more people to be able to use it. The best part of the VBMAPP is the fact that it gives specific and clear instructions about how to run, score, and asses the assessment. The booklet includes clear instructions on how to score every single part of the assessment as well as even when to end the assessment if it needs to be ended early (Forbes 2016). This assessment is also used to measure students compared to their neurotypical peers but they do not

EVALUATION OF TEST MATERIALS AND PROCEDURES OF THE VBMAPP actually compare them, they tend to just see where they stand compared to other children their age and where they should be for their age group making sure that they take into account any disability that the child may have (Sundberg 2011). One of the areas that the VBMAPP lacks in is the fact that not just everyone is able to score this assessment therefore not everyone is able to administer it, for someone to administer this assessment they must a background in ABA and be able to tell the difference between a mand, and echoic, and a tact and know what makes them different in order to not mistakenly score one for another. This does not allow for just anyone to conduct this assessment, usually it is a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst who conducts the assessment. Overall the VBMAPP gives both the items and materials that are needed in order to conduct this assessment, they lay out everything someone may need in order to be able to do this assessment and they make it easy to find it now that its available online. Conclusions and Recommendations Overall this assessment has a lot of strengths when it comes to appropriateness of the test items and materials, even though it is not possible to conduct this assessment without having a background in applied behavior analysis, this assessment is appropriate for the population that is tested and it is scored and tested in a way that does not harm the person taking the test but instead helps them in the end by knowing what they are needing help with and what kind of intervention programs can be put into place in order for the child to succeed. While the assessment is also not able to have much wiggle room with how it is conducted and the questions that are asked, this is important to have because it is an assessment that is testing where someone should be for their age and there is not much that can be changed based on science of what someone at a certain age should know.

EVALUATION OF TEST MATERIALS AND PROCEDURES OF THE VBMAPP I have a couple of recommendations for how the test could be better, my first recommendation would be to make the test easier to score, since only someone with a background in ABA can conduct this assessment then maybe having a specific course that can teach someone how to conduct the assessment as well as how to properly score the assessment. With this then the VBMAPP could become a more universally used assessment for all kids. Another huge suggestion would be to be able to make the assessment more flexible in terms of the content that it covers, maybe having different ways to ask the question or different questions that can be asked in place of the ones they already ask to make it more flexible for some kids. Another thing about this assessment is that nowhere in any source does it say that this assessment can be translated to other languages or translated into lets say sign language in order to be given to other students who may be verbally impair or may have some sort of language barrier. With changes to these three things the VBMAPP would be much better and much more appropriate for all kinds of testing.

EVALUATION OF TEST MATERIALS AND PROCEDURES OF THE VBMAPP References American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, & the National Council on Measurement in Education. (2014). Standards for educational and psychological testing. Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.

Barnes, C. S., Mellor, J. R., & Rehfeldt, R. A. (2014). Implementing the Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP): Teaching Assessment Techniques. The Analysis of verbal behavior, 30(1), 36–47. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40616-013-0004-5

Dixon, M. R., Belisle, J., Stanley, C., Rowsey, K., Daar, J. H., & Szekely, S. (2014). Toward a Behavior Analysis of Complex Language for Children with Autism: Evaluating the Relationship between PEAK and the VB-MAPP. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 27(2), 223-233. doi:10.1007/s10882-014-9410-4

Forbes, H. (2016). Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program: Overview, Administration, and Programming Guidelines. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/carme/Downloads/82-Presentation_0.pdf

Montallana, K. L., Gard, B. M., Lotfizadeh, A. D., & Poling, A. (2019). Inter-Rater Agreement for the Milestones and Barriers Assessments of the Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49(5), 2015-2023. doi:10.1007/s10803-019-03879-4

EVALUATION OF TEST MATERIALS AND PROCEDURES OF THE VBMAPP Sundberg, M. (n.d.). VBMAPP. Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://www.vbmappapp.com/products_services/vbmapp_app

Sundberg, M.L. (2011). Verbal Behavioral Milestones Assessment and Placement Program. (VBMAPP). (2020). Retrieved from Frequently asked questions about the Verbal Behavior....