FASD Students and Assessment Practices

For my professional development day, I chose to attend a workshop on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and an informed-approach. FASD is a lifelong disability that impacts cognition and physical abilities (Kelsh, 2020). There are 2 types of diagnostics: with sentinel facial features and without (Kelsh, 2020). Observable outcomes from FASD can look like responsive behaviors and emotions, attention styles, lack or excess of physical movement and motor skills, lack of regulation, low memory and processing times (Kelsh, 2020). When unaddressed, the impacts can translate into mental health issues, difficulty at school and society in general (Kelsh, 2020). Using an “informed approach”, the strengths of the students can be emphasized to overcome the impacts of FASD and applied towards valid assessment practices (Kelsh, 2020).

There are many ways to assess students that have exceptionalities. A strategy that can be used in this case would be to chunk the assessment in smaller and achievable portions. Breaking down the complexity of the task is a strategy that can be used with FASD students (Kelsh, 2020; Edmunds & Edmunds, 2018, p. 283). The teacher can break down the task while keeping the desired learning outcomes at bay and assess the student’s progress moving forward from their starting point.

Since the impacts of FASD include self-regulation issues (Kelsh, 2020), it is important to keep the physical environment of the student in mind. The assessment should take place when stimuli from the environment creates behaviors that takes over the skills to be demonstrated. I think that overall, this concept is often forgotten for all of the students. For example, a student that has test anxiety might not accurately demonstrate their real abilities and knowledge (White, 2017, p. 162). In order to assess properly, the environment has to be prime before anything else happens.

Finally, using the “informed-approach”, where the teacher uses the strength of the student, should be apply towards assessment (Kelsh, 2020). Therefore, using personalized formative assessment with the students is a great way to offer differentiated feedback to target different exceptionalities (White, 2017, p. 106). Formative feedback is geared towards the student’s individual learning needs and an accurate evaluation of the student’s strength.

In conclusion, although professional development days seem to be specific, the topics are usually transferable from one area to another. Those days open your horizon of what is possible and that there will always be something new to learn or some connections to be made. Life-long learning!

References

Edmunds, A. & Edmunds, G. (2018). Special Education in Canada (3rd edition). Oxford
University Press ISBN: 978-0-199-02665-4
Kelsh, S. (2020). Supporting Students through an “FASD-Informed Approach” [PDF].
POPFASD. Retrieved from www.fasdoutreach.ca
White, K. (2017). Softening the edges: Assessment practices that honors K-12 teachers and learners. Solution Tree: ProQuest Ebook Central, UNBC.