Needs+Assessment


 * Worksheet I: Needs Assessment**

A. Overview of Group: what information do you have about your group and who will be in it? What will your role and responsibilities be in designing group?

1. Supervision: a. Who is/are the supervisor/contact person(s) you will be working with?

Teacher: Jessica Colby OT: MaryAnn Biele

b. What will be the nature of your contact with your supervisor?

Jessica Colby will be in the room at all times while we are working with the children, as well as 2 other classroom teachers. Mary Ann said she would be available to us for consultation and observation as necessary. Both supervisors gave us their email addresses and told us that we can also email them during the week if we have questions.

c. What is/are their expectations regarding your role/responsibilities?

The purpose of both groups is to supplement the service delivery of students on IEPs and to develop skills in typically developing children. GLE students are expected to be prepared and professional, ask questions, keep appropriate notes/data, and use outside resources to learn about developmentally appropriate activities, and keep safety as a priority.

2. Group Selection: will you be leading a group that is already formed, or will you be starting a group from scratch? If the group is already formed, what do you know about it (e.g. history, open/closed, size, physical environment, type of group, purpose/goals, norms, etc.)? What will your role and responsibilities be as co-leaders of the group? If you will be starting a group from scratch, what do you know about it (e.g. open/closed, size, setting/staff/client expectations, purpose/goals, etc.)

Our group is already formed, and has been meeting daily since September. It is a closed group

Refer to GROUPS book to help you answer questions a. General description of clients

Our group consists of 5 boys, ranging in age from 3-5, all of whom have some form of pervasive developmental disorder. They come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, but because they are attending Brookline Public Schools it may be assumed that their families are in the middle-upper class of society. All of the clients have been identified as having difficulty with social interactions and struggle a little bit with gross motor planning.

b. History: how long has group been running, who has been running group?

Our group has been running since September, and is being led by the preschool teacher, Jessica Colby. They have been meeting every day, after the students attend their respective preschool programs in the morning.

c. Open/closed: if open, any chance of group being closed?

The group is a closed group.

d. Size of group?

5 boys

e. Physical environment: briefly describe available space:

Our group meets in a preschool classroom within the William Lincoln Public School in Brookline. Two of the walls within the classroom are lined with large, bay windows, and along the third wall there is an attached bathroom and 2 sinks for washing hands. The space is divided into 4 main sections by miniature bookshelves. The front center of the room is a rounded space for circle time, the right side consists of child-size tables for crafts, free play, and eating, the left side has books and a computer for the children to use, and in the back center of the room is another table surrounded by a variety of toys and games for the children to play with. Student artwork covers the entire room.

f. What is the type of group?

g. What is the purpose of the group?

The purpose of our group is to improve social interaction skills among the students, while also incorporating gross motor movements. h. Norms: known or anticipated norms?

According to the teacher some of the classroom norms are… From what we observed, it is an expectation of anyone in the classroom to wash their hands as soon as they enter the room. Then, the students are given approximately 20 minutes of free-play time, followed by lunch. After lunch they go into circle time, which is when we will lead our group (hopefully).

3. Group member selection: a. Who selecting members: Will you be selecting appropriate clients/students for your group or will setting staff do this, or will it be on a sign-up basis?

All of the members of our group were pre-selected by the staff within Brookline Public Schools. According to the OT, the students were selected because of their decreased, or lack of social interaction skills.

b. Criteria for member selection: If you select clients/students for your group, what criteria will you use?

N/A

4. Other pertinent information: What are the important procedures that need to be observed, e.g. safety, cancellations, emergencies, and food or exercise restrictions, etc?

Within the classroom there are severe allergies to nuts and latex. The entire classroom itself is a latex-free zone, meaning anything that even contains latex (i.e. erasers, rubber bands, etc.) may not be brought into the classroom.

In regards to cancellations, the school will be closed for school vacation week April 19-23.

Note: The answers to these questions are based on your initial impressions as part of the general needs assessment. You will be designing and refining the details of your group description, goals, plans, methods, etc. in much more detail for your group protocol.

B. Evaluation of group members: needs, expectations, interests, functional abilities and limitations, special precautions, etc. Typically, you will use multiple methods to assess client needs, interests, and functional abilities/limitations. These may include information provided to you by the GLE setting staff regarding client/student needs, medical records, and your own observations of and discussions with the clients/students. Factors to consider:

1. What is the setting/facility approach/policy regarding assessment and evaluation of clients/students? Can do informal assessment of specific skills such as drawing or cutting samples.

Because our group is part of the public school system, we are no able to do any standardized testing.

2. When will you evaluate group members? Will you set aside a specific time for evaluating clients or will you do this more informally? Or, perhaps designing the first one or two “official” group sessions for “evaluation” may be appropriate.

We will have the teacher fill out an assessment form on each student during the first week, and the last week. Other than that, we as leaders will be informally assessing the students each week through observation.

3. Assessment/evaluation methods: How will you evaluate group members? Structured observations? Checklists? Chart review? Interview supervisor/contact person? You might use a survey, checklist or a group interview. Unless it is truly not feasible, try to include some method of gathering information directly from the clients/students, e.g. what client/student perspectives are regarding goals, interests and/or needs. Formal evaluations?

We are unable to do formal assessments with the students, however we will be asking the classroom teacher to fill out an informal assessment for us on each student in the class. This assessment is a modified version of the SFA, specifically looking at the areas of social interaction. We will also be setting goals for each group we lead, and monitoring whether or not we meet those goals.

C. Clients’ occupational needs and desires

1. Clients’ predominant identified needs, desires, expectations and interests: In evaluating the occupational performance of a group of clients/students, it is often important to evaluate both the individuals and the group as a whole. In describing your group, try to describe the overall abilities/limitations or the typical range of abilities/limitations for the group as a whole. Ask yourself, as a group what do group members have in common that will impact planning and leading the group? What are the differences among members that may impact planning and leading the group?

The students in our group come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, have different skill levels, and have different levels of social awareness. Some of the children occasionally ask questions of each other and request a turn with various turns, but in general the group tends to do a lot of individual, parallel play without considering those around them.

One commonality across the group though is that all of the students are boys, and in general they are all interested in forms of transportation. They also all fall on the spectrum of pervasive developmental disorders, mostly on the higher functioning side. Many of the boys are also together in their morning preschool class, so they have connections outside of the group as well.

2. Major factors which influence clients’ occupational performance? a. Performance patterns: Activity Patterns, Habits, Routines, and Roles? b. Performance skills/abilities; Motor & Praxis, Sensory-perceptual, Cognitive, Communication and social, Emotional regulation skills c. Context or context: Cultural, Physical, Social, Personal, Spiritual, Temporal, & Virtual? d. Client factors: Mental functions, sensory functions, movement functions, and medical/physical functions?

3. Additional facilitators and barriers to performance: What other factors are important to consider in designing, planning, and implementing a group in this setting?

During our group, there are a lot of adults in the classroom, so the supervision of the children will be 1:1. We should be able to use this to our advantage when one child may need a little extra help understanding a concept, or if the session is getting too long for someone and he needs to go do something else. Because the group is already established and has been working on social skills all year, there is a great deal of support for it from the other teachers in the classroom. This will also be beneficial for us as leaders because they understand our goals and will be working towards them with us as well.

4. Specific outcomes/needs for your group: Which of the following best reflect the setting/staff desired outcome(s)? Are they compatible with the needs and interests that you and your clients identified? ­ Occupational performance ­ Role competence X ­ Adaptation ­ Health and wellness ­ Prevention ­ Quality of life ­ Participation X ­ Occupational justice ­ Self-advocacy

The staff’s desired outcomes revolve around participation and role competence. Both of these are compatible with what we as leaders identified as needs within the group. As for the clients, because they are children, their biggest concern at this age is playing and having fun. They are most likely unaware of their need for increased social interaction skills but as long as we make our activities fun and engaging we believe they will be willing to work towards these outcomes as well.