As a special education and early childhood educator, I have learned that communicating assessment

results to other stakeholders (parents/family members, social workers, school psychologist, administration and

other professionals) requires that I thoroughly examine all data and compose a professional evaluation report.

The report will allow me to provide evidence of my understanding of the child through the multiple assessments

obtained, parent interviews, portfolios and additional testing or assessments as required. As a professional, I

realize I must understand parent’s rights and educate them on assessment results. I do this by avoiding jargon,

abbreviations and explaining terms that they may be unfamiliar with.

In remembering that families know their child best, I must remain sensitive and act professional when it

comes to delivering news about academic or behaviors concerns and when a new parent enters into the

multidisciplinary team (MDT). I must remain objective and use positive language to assist me and the parent’s

through the difficult task of special education. Individualized Education Program (IEP) and Individualized

Family Services Plan (IFSP) require much discretion as parents are vulnerable and trying to figure out the best

way to help their child. By writing Labs 3-5, I was able to write recommendations for teachers and other

stakeholders to increase the child’s development across the 6 different domains.

Labs 3 and 5 required me to examine my role as a special education teacher and how my suggestions

can lead down a path of interventions thought Child Study Team (CST), IFSP and IEP’s. The labs allowed me

to simplify my language so that parents can follow along with the team or my individual recommendation. Lab

4 required that I look at six students but I still collected data on each child individually, so I could compart the

overall classroom development and explain where a parent’s child falls within our classroom development as

well as consider their individual development across domains.

The in-class learning activity from November 15th, shed light on what I need to do as a professional

when communicating results. As an educator, I want to make the parent feel like they are part of the team and

that they are valued. I will explicitly explain the purpose of the assessments, the steps that will be taken and

encourage their input. As a professional, I also understand that not all parents will want to proceed with

additional services and that they may take their children’s weaknesses as their fault. However, it is my duty to

let the parent know that their child’s developmental progress matters to me which is why we are meeting. I will
remain professional by using person first language and consistently talk to the parent throughout the process.

Additionally, I can ask parents about the goals they have for their child. I must remain objective. When

explaining the test and my interpretation of the data, I must make sure my recommendation matches the data

collected and the developmental milestones. I must be clear and concise in delivering a time line for

interventions, the CST, MDT, IFSP and IEP process.

For example, Lab 5: Scoring and Interpreting Standardized Assessments: T-Scores & Percentiles

involved a lot of terms such as raw score, t-scores, and percentiles which were used to determine whether

Alex’s internalizing and externalizing behavior. I found this lab to be very tedious because we did not want to

confuse ourselves, colleagues and parents. By simplifying and even providing parents with an example chart

and showing the assessment, I can further explain my recommendation. Lab 5 allowed me to apply my

knowledge about percentiles and reduced my misconceptions about percentages.