Dynamic Assessment And Intervention Of A Childs Performance

Dynamic Assessment and Intervention According to Gillam, Peà ±a, and Miller (1999) assessment of discourse is a challenging but important aspect of assessing language, highlighting that cultural and experiential differences may be a factor in a child’s performance. Simply, some children may not have been exposed to these types of narratives or been expected to generate them in their home environment. The authors suggest that good language learners usually learn the new forms or overcome the differences with extra classroom support; however, some children with poor discourse abilities may have more significant problems with learning language (Gilliam et al., 1999). Thus, part of the challenge in assessing discourse is distinguishing a†¦show more content†¦Thus, Dynamic Assessment has been recommended by Gillam et al., (1999) as a method to assess narratives. The general procedure for Dynamic Assessment is to establish a baseline using a formal or informal method, enga ge in a teaching phase, and then re-assess performance (test-teach-retest). Specifically for expository discourse Gillam et al. (1999) recommended an informal assessment using the Test of Problem Solving (TOPS) (Zachman, Barrett, Huisingh, Jorgensen, 1992), which was most recently revised in 2005 (Huisingh, Bowers, LoGiudice, 2005). TOPS is a standardized test for ages 6-12 in which a child views a picture depicting a problem and is then asked questions to evaluate the problem and generate/explain various solutions. It is designed to assess making inferences, sequencing, negative questions (why something would not occur), problem solving, predicting, and determining causes (Linguisystems, 2005). However, for the testing phases, rather than administering and scoring TOPS formally, Gillam et al., (1999) recommend a qualitative 6-point scale (0-5) rating the completeness, amount of information informative, and accuracy of a response, using even-numbered items for pre-testing, and th e odd numbered items for post-testing. For the