ICAN home about ICAN Tour Modules Glossary Search  
Your Path: ICAN Home > Modules > Academic Interventions > Categorization: Lecture Page 5
Characteristics assessment Academic Interventions Behavioral Interventions Communication Interventions Environmental Interventions Sensory Interventions Social Interventions

1 2 3 4 5 6

Assessing and Teaching Prerequisite Skills

Forum References FAQ's Quiz Lecture Introduction The first step in deciding how to start teaching categorization is determining what skills the student already has. Careful observation of the student’s behavior in a variety of settings is a valuable way of determining whether the student has the prerequisite skills to begin training on categorization strategies. During this stage, it is also a good idea to gain information about how the student is already using categorization. Note the students’ organization strategies during daily routines as well as their choice of play and leisure activities and how they use preferred materials. These observations will serve as a guide in your decision on where and how to begin teaching.

Specific skills to assess when trying to determine a child’s categorization skills include:

  • Ability to discriminate between two objects
  • Ability to match identical objects
  • Ability to match identical pictures
  • Ability to conceptualize words
  • Ability to sort a group of objects into two identical sets (red bears, large wire paperclips)
  • Ability to sort a group of pictures into two identical sets (Cookie Monster, Big Bird)
  • Ability to sort a group of objects by one feature (small silver paperclips, large silver paperclips)

Examples of Informal Assessment Through Observation

Visual discrimination: Johnaska often chose to take the memory cards from the shelf during playtime in her preschool program. Some cards had patterns and some did not. She would take the cards out of the box one at a time, looking at the pattern on the back of the card before placing it pattern side up on the floor, repeating this process until all the cards were on the floor. Clearly, Johnaska demonstrated an interest in visual patterns and her ability to visually discriminate between pattern and no pattern.

Matching identical objects: Upon arriving at school Mohammad immediately went to the play area, found the two Fisher Price "little people" with brown hair and orange bodies and then carried them around, one in each hand. He appeared to have emerging skills in matching two identical objects among many kinds of toys. Interesting, Mohammad did not have an understanding of the spoken word "little people." In fact, he appeared to have few receptive language skills. As a result, systematic teaching of object labels became an important part of his program.

Matching identical pictures: Corey was a fan of Disney videos and could name all the characters. Lion King being his current favorite, one of his favorite activities was to use the small pictures of the Lion King characters to match the pictures of the characters in the Lion King book. Corey successfully used the skill of visually discriminating and matching identical pictures.

Sorting objects into two identical sets: Yannie’s chore after snack at school was to stack chairs, put dishes in the sink and throw away any paper that might be lying on the floor. In this situation Yannie demonstrated his ability to sort objects by location within a learned routine (stack chairs, dishes in sink, throwaway paper).

Sorting objects by one feature: One of Adam’s favorite snacks was Fruit Loops. When given a small bowl of the multi-colored cereal, he would pick out and eat all the yellow ones first, then the orange, red, purple, blue and finally the green cereal pieces. This activity revealed that Adam was able to sort cereal by color.

In each of these cases, one example of the skill was given that identifies that concept as an emerging skill for the student. As an educator, you need to expand on the skill using a variety of materials and concepts and as we as broaden the contexts or environments in which the student can use the skill. In all cases, using simple language to label the concepts being taught is critical. There are a number of ways to expand on emerging skills.

1. Introduce similar materials within the context of the activity where the child is already demonstrating the skill.

Examples:

  • Visual discrimination - Introduce a new set of cards with a different ??to Johnaska.
  • Matching identical pictures – Have Corey do the same matching activity with the Little Mermaid book.

2. Incorporate use of the skill within the context of a functional routine.

Examples:

  • Sorting objects into two identical sets – Have Yannie put towels in the laundry basket and shoes on the rack in the closet or sort the mail by putting the envelopes in the mail basket and flyers in the recycle box.
  • Sorting objects by one feature - When it was time to clean up after table time, ask Adam to collect first all the yellow crayons, then orange and so on.

3. Use structured work tasks to build on emerging skills

Examples:

  • Visual discrimination – patterned cards in the 12 sections of the tray from the Memory game with a small box holding 12 more cards attached to the left side of the tray and physically guide Johnaska to take a card from the box and place it in one of the sections in the tray. After she is guided to place three cards, she continues on her own until all the cards are placed in the tray. Once Johnaska has learned to use the tray to match patterned cards, new cards can be introduced to build on her visual discrimination skills.

Key Points:

  • It is important to teach prerequisite skills before planning a lesson.
  • Gain information on where to start by observing the student during preferred and routine activities.
  • Teach emerging skills in a variety of situations and with a variety of materials to promote generalization across contexts.
  • Teach language related to the skill being taught.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6