School Function Assessment Emily Gannon Jenny Hasler

Purpose The School Function Assessment was designed to help identify a student’s strengths and limitations while performing school related functional tasks. This information helps identify the areas where intervention is needed and aids in developing program planning for students with different types of disabling conditions.

What is School Function? Nonacademic Aspects of a School Program Manipulating books and tools for writing Moving around classroom or school Interacting with peers during learning tasks

Three Parts of Test: Part I- Participation: examines the students’ participation levels during six major school activities - Regular or special education classroom - Playground or recess - Transportation to and from school - Bathroom and toileting activities - Transitions to and from classroom - Mealtime or snack time

Three Parts of Test: Part II- Task Supports: examines types of supports the student is provided with when he/she performs school-related functional tasks. Two types of Task Supports: Assistance (adult help) Adaptations (wheelchair, etc.)

Three Parts of Test: Part III- Activity Performance: examines how the student performs during specific school-related functional activities Physical Activity Performance Cognitive/Behavioral Activity Performance

Example Question Maintaining and Changing Positions *Maintains adequate posture for at least ½ hour during classroom instruction. 1=Does not Perform 2=Partial Performance 3=Inconsistent Performance 4= Consistent Performance

SFA Item type: Likert Scale Level of measurement: Ordinal- levels of function are arranged in order, but intervals between levels are not of equal size. *children are graded against peers, not against a “norm” for that age/grade.

Directions for taking SFA The test is administered to 1 or more school officials that know the student well. ( teacher, aide, OT, PT, SLP, or other school persons.) Only some sections must be completed…but every question in those sections must have an answer.

Scoring Part I : Participation scale 1- Participation extremely limited. 2- Participation in a few activities 3- Participation in all aspects with constant supervision 4- Participation in all aspects with occasional assistance 5- Modified participation 6- Full participation

Scoring Part II: Task Supports (Scale for assistance) 1-Extensive assistance 2-Moderate Assistance 3-Minimal Assistance 4-No Assistance

Scoring Part II :Task Supports (Scale for Adaptations) 1-Extensive adaptations 2-Moderate adaptations 3-Minimal adaptations 4-No adaptations.

Scoring Part III :Activity Performance Scale for activity performance 1-Does not perform 2-Partial performance 3-Inconsistent Performance 4-Consistent performance

More Scoring Add numbers in each section to get Raw Score Scoring tables are in the back of the manual…Criterion and Standard Error Scores are looked up using the Raw Score.

Safety Issues Stress Time/Change over time No Unanswered Questions

Reliability Reliability is consistency or dependability of scores across different occasions or examiners for assessments Internal Consistency reflect the extent to which items within a scale are related to one another. Test- Retest provides a measure that the student’s performance is constant across different testing occasions.

Reliability The Internal Consistency for the SFA is 0.92-0.98 Test-Retest- is .82-.98 *(the closer to +1.0 the higher the reliability)

Validity Content Validity Construct Validity Items effectively sample the universe of content. Construct Validity Measures what the testers are looking for and how valid it is.

Validity Two content validity studies were completed. -First one rated the comprehensiveness and relevance of the items -Second provided and evaluation of the relevance, comprehensiveness, and usefulness of the items and rating scales. Construct Validity was tested and was found to have excellent predictive and discriminative power

SFA Practicality Costs: $175 Utility Includes User's Manual, 25 Record Forms, and 3-8 page Rating Scale Guides Utility Expensive Training

References Law, Mary, Baum, Carolyn, and Dunn, Winnie. Measuring Occupational Performance. 2nd Edition. Slack Incorporated, 2005. Coster, W., Deeney, T., Haltinger, J., & Haley, S. (1998). School Function Assessment User’s Manual. San Antonio, Texas: The Psychological Corporation