Education Assignment

Educational Record - Oliver

Overview

Learner: “Oliver”, a pseudonym

Age: 3 years, 2 months

Diagnosis: Autism Spectrum Disorder

Services: Currently Oliver is receiving 20 hours of in-home ABA therapy per week

and 1 hour each of clinic-based speech and occupational therapy.

Background: Oliver’s parents consented to an initial assessment using the Verbal

Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP). The

assessment was conducted on February 16, 2022, in the living room of Oliver’s home

with his mother, father, grandmother, 5-year old sister, and twin brother present.

The VB-MAPP is a curriculum-based assessment for children ages 0-48 months of

age; it addresses 170 developmental skills across 3 levels (Sundberg, 2008). Level 1

(for ages 0-18 months) contains skills including Mand (requesting), Tact (labeling),

Listener Responding, Visual Perceptual and Matching to Sample, Play, Social, Motor

Imitation, Echoic (echoing), and Spontaneous Vocalizing. The Level 2 VB-MAPP (for

ages 18-30 months) includes all of the same skill areas as the Level 1 except replaces

Spontaneous Vocalizing with Intraverbals (conversation and asking/answering

questions and fill in the blanks), Linguistics, and adds Listener Responding for

Features, Functions and Classes as well as Group behaviors. The Level 3 (for ages

30-48 months) includes all of the skill areas from the Level 2 and adds Reading,

Writing, and Math. The VB-MAPP was developed especially for young children with

autism spectrum disorder and was selected for Oliver on the basis of age and

functioning level.

Results

Oliver’s initial score on the VB-MAPP assessment was 22.

Mand: Oliver is unable to request verbally and did not use any symbols or signs

during the initial assessment, thus he received no credit for the Mand section. When

he wants something he will lead an adult to the item’s general area (e.g., pantry,

refrigerator, bedroom). When someone is unable to determine what Oliver wants

precisely, he will fall to the ground and scream until they offer him something he

wants.

Tact: Because Oliver is nonverbal, he does not currently have a tact repertoire and

received no credit for the Tact section.

Listener Responding: Oliver demonstrated his ability to respond to a speaker’s

voice but did not respond to his own name. He was able to perform motor actions on

command but only with a visual prompt. When provided with an array of items and

pictures to choose specific items, Oliver was able to provide the named item on all

trials. His score on this section was 4.

Visual Perceptual and Matching to Sample: Oliver was able to match 10 identical

items, earning a score of 5 on Level 1.. He was not able to match in a messy array of 6

for 25 items, and therefore did not earn any credit for the Level 2 VP-MTS.

Play: Oliver was able to perform all tasks in the Level 1 and completed 2 additional

tasks from Level 2, earning him a score of 7 in this area. He was not able to use

everyday items or toys in a creative way (e.g., a pen as an airplane, a bowl as a drum,

etc.).

Social: Socially, Oliver was able to indicate his desire for hugs from mom by crawling

into her lap, he observed his brother and sister playing, and he engaged in parallel

play with them. However, he did not spontaneously imitate them nor did he initiate

any interaction with them. He earned a score of 4 for this area.

Motor Imitation: Oliver scored a 1 in this section. He was able to imitate only 2

gross motor movements when prompted to “do this”. He did not spontaneously

imitated any actions, nor did he imitate actions with objects.

Echoic: As Oliver is nonverbal, he did not echo any sounds during the initial

assessment. He was heard to babble the sounds “oooh”, “oh”, “buh”, “puh”, “duh” and

“kuh” but would not echo them. He earned a 0 for this area.

Spontaneous Vocal Behavior: Oliver is able to make 6 different sounds, in addition

to squealing, screaming, crying, and laughing. He did not produce any word

approximations. He earned a 1 for this area.

Reference List

Sundberg, M.L. (2008). Verbal behavior milestones assessment and placement

program: Guide, a language and social skills assessment program for children

with autism or other developmental disabilities. Concord, CA: AVB Press.

Appendix