1. New Zealand Child and Youth Profile
Tara McLaughlin, Julia Budd, & Sally Clendon Massey University
Background & Rationale
The Child and Youth Profile is based on core elements of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health; Child and Youth Version (ICF-CY; World Health Organization, 2007)
Designed for use in Aotearoa/ New Zealand education settings to account for specific contextual considerations (e.g., culture, policy, funding systems)
There is a need for effective tools to better understand children’s functioning in order to plan for and promote positive outcomes for all children and youth
ICF-CY
ICF-CY is a conceptual framework for characterizing children’s functional abilities
ICY-CY can be used to inform the development of assessment instruments
ICF-CY based assessments:
Child and Youth Profile
Child and Youth Profile consists of a toolkit of forms and planning documents to consider and document child and youth characteristics, participation, and preferences
The toolkit is intended to support:
gathering in-depth information about a child/youth
team collaboration and communication
information sharing and interdisciplinary exchange
educational planning
The toolkit is designed to:
be inclusive of children and youth birth through 20 years of age
provide a holistic view of the child in context
help identify priority areas for home, school, and community interventions
be used flexibly by teams
The Toolkit:
Background Information (BI)
Provide information about a child’s cultural identity, educational placement, On-going Resource Funding (ORS), the professionals who work with the child and family, family members, and family support services.
Sensory Modality Profile (SMP)
Gather information about a child’s current level of ability to perceive sensory information and use it to explore their world, discriminate between objects and use for specific tasks across a variety of sensory modalities.
Communication Profile (CP)
Gather key information about the child/youth’s communication system and record how the child/youth expresses different important communicative functions.
Participation and Access Profile (PAP)
Ascertain a child’s interest, availability, access and accommodation to a range of educational, home, and community activities and to consider if current participation is acceptable to the child, family or others involved in the activity.
Functional Ability Profile (FAP)
Gather information about a child’s current level of ability across 11 functional ability areas to show show areas of strength and weakness for the child/youth. Functional abilities are viewed as the integrated skills that children can do to perform the activities of life.
Adaptations and Specialised Equipment Profile (ASEP)
Identify the types of adaptations, augmentative and alternative communication systems, assistive technology, or adaptive devices the child currently uses and/or which might be desirable for future use.
Interests and Preference Profile (IPP)
Identify a child’s areas of interest and preferences for items and activities, including an awareness of family preferences for the child to use as motivators to increase engagement and participation and/or act as potential rewards or reinforcers of desired behaviours and competencies.
Priority Planning Page (PPP)
Integrate summary information from the toolkit to inform planning and interventions. Key information about the child and priority goals and interventions for home, school, and community can be documented.
can yield information about child functioning
can help clarify clinical diagnoses
can support interdisciplinary planning and practice
can have practical implications for individualizing interventions
can be used to track child development or monitor child progress
WHO, 2007
Pilot project
Purpose: Gather stakeholder feedback on the Child and Youth Profile
Explore the extent to which it is: useful, appropriate, culturally relevant, feasible to use, and effective for supporting teams with educational planning
Explore how teams used the it: how often, who took part, which forms, and what process
Inform revisions: what is missing, what can be removed, and what will improve it
Process: Engage a range of educational teams who support children with disabilities in a variety of education settings
Provide a semi-structured training to use the Child and Youth Profile
Teams use the toolkit for 2-4 months
Team members complete a short questionnaire
Focus groups or interviews with team members
Timeline:
Iterative process of development 2015 – early 2016
Recruitment of teams, pilot, and stakeholder feedback (now – late 2016)
Revised Toolkit for wider use (2017)
Work reported here supported by a grant from Massey University Research Fund through the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Massey University and the Institute of Education, Massey University.