A. Tadema

The development of a checklist of child characteristics for assessment purposes

Until recently, pupils in The Netherlands with a developmental perspective of up to 24 months and with additional disabilities rarely made use of the educational facilities available. As a result of a new law passed in 2002, an increasing number of pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD) will attend school. Given the heterogeneity of this group of pupils, an appropriate method of assessment is needed to chart the abilities that these pupils have and to allow a suitable educational programme to be developed on the basis of the results obtained. As the existing instruments are not generally very satisfactory, a new instrument has been developed. This is a checklist that has been subjected to reliability trials and factor analysis after formulation of suitable items. The results indicate that it is a reliable checklist, with factors that can be interpreted accurately in terms of development perspectives (functions, activities and participation).

The validity of support profiles for children with profound multiple learning difficulties

As a result of a new law passed in The Netherlands, in 2002, an increasing number of children with profound and multiple learning difficulties will attend school. The complexity of the target group requires appropriate assessment that is focused on programme planning. A new instrument, the Checklist of child characteristics, has been developed for this purpose. This paper demonstrates how the scores on the checklist can be transformed into support profiles. It then discusses the results of a validity assessment conducted on support profiles that were compiled for 32 pupils. These results suggest that the instrument is valid.