It’s far too familiar that clients come to us telling the same story about standardized daily living skills assessments and their experience with building independence in diverse learners.
“They’ve done x, y and z assessments with my child. All the results show their adaptive and daily living skills are well behind same-aged peers. But no one seems to know what the next steps are. We keep talking about needing to work on DLS, but there’s just no progress. ”
We know that targeting activities of daily living (ADL) and daily living skills (DLS) form the foundation of many special education and vocational programs for diverse learners. But so many families continue to report the same disconnect between the assessment process and learner progress.
Frankly, there’s trouble with the standardized daily living skills assessments and tools we use to evaluate ADLs in diverse learners. We think there’s room to help students better succeed and achieve greater independence.
Here’s why:
5 Reasons We’re Ready to Leave Standardized Daily Living Skills Assessments Behind
1. They’re subjective and not based on observable data
One of the biggest critiques–and a shared frustration among many educators and practitioners—of the commercially available standardized adaptive and daily living skills assessments centers on measurement. Most of these assessments don’t actually require any direct observation of the student.
While parent and teacher reports—or indirect assessments—help gather information, we know the method has flaws. Questionnaires and surveys may give us some clues about skill level. But when it comes to learning what to teach and how to teach it, direct observation and measurement of the behavior provide us the most information.
Time is the one resource that parents and teachers can always use more of. So let’s spend less time on the standardized DLS assessment and more time directly measuring the behavior of our learners.
2. They aren’t always person-centered or “current with the times”
The second complaint to raise with standardized DLS assessments can be summed up with three words: behind the times.
In the past decade, the field of special education has shifted rapidly to person-centered and values-based planning for our learners. Unfortunately, many of our standardized assessments haven’t kept up with the advances. We’re using assessments developed in the 1980s and early 2000s to inform the independence of our students some 30 years later.
To give some perspective:
The difference between 1980 and 2021 is the same number of years between 1938 and 1980. We wouldn’t expect 1938 education to hold up to 1980 technology and standards. We’re also not doing laundry, making dinner plans with friends, or ordering off the menu how we did in the ’80s and ’90s.
So why are we still hanging on to standardized assessment tools that advise us to do so?
If we expect to be moving towards person-centered planning and what individuals need their learners to know to be independent, it’s past time we get with the times.
3. They often undervalue foundational communication skills
The third point, which we’ll continue to emphasize throughout the series, is how foundational communication skills are to developing daily living skills in diverse learners. While most DLS assessments have some component of communication, it’s often not at the core.
Consider DLS skills in a pyramid. Each area of skills builds in sequence, from meeting our basic needs (health, safety, household) upward towards meeting more tangential needs (acceptance, self-determination, advocacy). If this is the case, then communication forms the very base.
Every method we use to teach DLS requires us to communicate with our learners. Most of the skills necessary for independent living need learners to develop an effective method to communicate. While we know our children and students might not communicate in the same ways, DLS assessments that fail to emphasize and undervalue communication will ultimately fail our learners.
4. What about motivation?
In similar ways, we also find standardized DLS assessments lacking in the motivation department.
For many of the learners we work with, it’s not that they don’t know how to perform DLS skills. It’s the lack of motivation to do them. Helping our learners develop a strong “why” or self-motivation can be tricky. Very few of the standardized DLS assessments help parents and teachers evaluate motivation in a learner or evaluate why problem behavior may be getting in the way of them demonstrating independence with the skills.
5. If we need to individualize anyway, why not start with an individualized approach?
Finally–and perhaps most importantly—how much value does using a standardized assessment provide if we ultimately have to customize and individualize anyway?
Research shows us that individualized interventions tend to be the most effective at teaching daily living skills to diverse learners. While it’s helpful for a standardized assessment to provide broad strokes of information about a learner, ultimately, parents and teachers will have to break skills apart, find motivation, and teach step-by-step anyway. What works for one learner might not work for your learner—at least not at first.
If we need to individualize DLS instruction anyway, why not start with an individualized, person-centered approach?
Where to Begin with Daily Living Skills
Learn more
While it’s okay to begin with a standardized daily living skills assessment, we often recommend parents and teachers start by just learning more about the core daily living skills areas and different types of interventions. After all, how do you know what assessment results are telling you if you’re not familiar with DLS in the first place? To get started, download our free .pdf Daily Living Skills 101 chart (above). It has definitions for each skill area and ideas about the types of skills needed for independence.
Conduct a baseline observation
Next, conduct an observation of your child or student engaging in the DLS activity you’d like to target. Often a simple 15- or 20-minute observation can provide a lot of information about the current barriers to success. Jot down notes about what’s going well and what’s most challenging as you observe your learner. Then use it to brainstorm some intervention plans.
Organize Your Learner’s Care Team
You may not be alone in identifying areas to build your child’s daily living skills. If your child receives speech, OT, PT, or other IEP services, they may already have goals related to these skill areas. Reach out to your learner’s care team to coordinate and discuss your observation and next steps.
Contact a life skills coach
Not every learner has a wrap-around support team equipped to assess and evaluate daily living skills. That’s okay. Working with a trained professional with experience in helping children develop and enhance DLS means you’re taking the best steps possible to help the child succeed. To find out more about life skills coaching services, click here.
Further Reading
- Administration for Community Living – Person-Centered Planning
- Bal, V. H., Kim, S. H., Cheong, D., & Lord, C. (2015). Daily living skills in individuals with autism spectrum disorder from 2 to 21 years of age. Autism: the international journal of research and practice, 19(7), 774–784. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361315575840
- Life Skills Advocate Blog – The Myths Of Motivation: Understanding The “Why” Or Function Of Your Teen’s Behavior
- Science Direct – Indirect Assessment