WRITING A COMPREHENSIVE REPORT IN SPECIAL EDUCATION Chapter Sixteen

CHAPTER OBJECTES Understand why reports need to be written, general guidelines when writing a report, and all sections of a comprehensive report including: Identifying data Reason for referral Background history Observations Tests administered Test results Test by test analysis Content area by content area analysis Conclusions Recommendations Summary table

REPORT WRITING

Practical Guidelines Write the report in the third person Single space your report to condense the length In general, try to separate your recommendation section into three parts

Practical Guidelines Try to write the report in the past tense as often as possible Always separate sections Underline, bold, or italicize paragraph headings so that they stand out and area easy to locate Write reports using complete sentences

Criteria for Writing a Comprehensive Report

Identifying Data Name Address Phone Date of Birth Grade School Chronological Age at the Time of Testing (CA) Parents’ Names Teacher Referred By Date/s of Testing Date of Report Examiner

Reason for Referral Explains to the reader the specific reasons why this evaluation is taking place. It should not be more than two to three sentences, but should be comprehensive enough to clarify the purpose.

Background History Family History Developmental History Academic History Social History

Behavioral Observations Includes a description of a child’s behaviors during the testing sessions Here, for the first time, you are providing the reader with your professional and first-hand observation of this child in a controlled setting

Tests and Procedures Administered A simple list of the individual tests included in the test battery and any procedures used to enhance the report, such as classroom observation, review of records, and parent intake.

Test Results Analyzes the results of each test and looks at the child’s individual performance on each measure. Test by Test Approach Separately analyses the child’s performance on each test. Content Area by Content Area Approach Analyses the results separately by content area

Conclusions Probably the essence of the report The examiner explains in very simple terms to the reader the trends in the child’s testing results that may indicate academic strengths and weaknesses, modality strengths and weaknesses, process strengths and weaknesses, and overall diagnosis and level or severity of the problems areas indicated.

Recommendations Recommendations to the school Recommendations to the teacher Recommendations to the parent

Evaluation Summary Table A useful part of the report that summarizes and places all test scores in one specific area.

CHAPTER OBJECTES Understand why reports need to be written, general guidelines when writing a report, and all sections of a comprehensive report including: Identifying data Reason for referral Background history Observations Tests administered Test results Test by test analysis Content area by content area analysis Conclusions Recommendations Summary table

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