Developmental Areas

The Skills Inventory consists of 835 behavioral statements organized into eight areas: Cognitive, Language, Social, Vision, Compensatory, Self-Help, Fine Motor, and Gross Motor. At an early age, language and cognitive development can only be arbitrarily separated, and self-help skills require prerequisite motor skills. All of these basic skills are interrelated, and it is only for purpose of assessment that the OR Project separates growth and learning into developmental areas.

Each area contains skills that have been developmentally sequenced and arranged in approximate age categories: Birth-1 Year, 1-2 Years, 2-3 Years, 3-4 Years, 4-5 Years, and 5-6 Years. Major skills needed by a child who is visually impaired or blind up to the sixth birthday are included. Some typical developmental milestones may not be included in the OR Project since although they are important; they are not “teachable.” It is not intended that each skill be of equal value or weight, but each skill is regarded as important enough to teach. The Skills Inventory facilitates finding the child’s developmental level, although it does not yield a “score” in terms of developmental months.

Following are descriptions of the eight skill areas found in the OR Project. It is important to understand the potential effects of vision loss on each developmental area. Refer to an OR Project Skills Inventory while reading this section.

Cognitive

The Cognitive section contains skills that require reasoning and thinking. Many of the items are similar to one another, but actually form a hierarchy for particular conceptualizations. For example, understanding the concept of relative size requires several sub-skills:

Skill # 1.14 - Assembles 3-part nesting toy

           2.14 - Matches big/little objects (identical in every other way)

           2.16 - Finds or touches big/little objects on request

           2.21 - Sorts similar objects by size, shape, or color

           3.12 - Places 3 objects in horizontal arrangement by size (seriates)

           5.12 - Places 5 objects in horizontal arrangement by size (seriates)

The matching skill involves a simple choice. The child is usually given three objects, two of which are the same size (big) and one of which is different (little). He merely has to put the two big ones together. Finding the big one on request requires the child to understand the labels “big” and “little.” In some instances there may be an item requiring the child to use (name) the labels “big” and “little.” Sorting requires the child to manipulate more than four objects, although the language requirement may be absent. Items #3.12 and #5.12 require a more sophisticated understanding of size: ordering or a comparison of three or more.

Not all children learn the same way. Some may have the most difficulty with matching. Others may be able to do quite sophisticated manipulation of objects, but are unable to use the labels/language to describe what they have done. Skills are broken down for ease in pinpointing which skills a child can actually do.

Language

This section consists of both receptive understanding and self-expression at the infant level. However, at the 1-2 Years level (and up) it becomes more a measurement of expressive language. This section includes items on articulation, grammar, and language use.

For items that measure language concepts, refer to the Cognitive section. The Skills Inventory has attempted to separate those items that require conceptual understanding of what is being said or asked (cognitive), and items that require self-expression of complex language. Compare these two items:

Cognitive 5.1 - Comprehends today, last night, yesterday, tomorrow when discussed by adult

Language 4.9 - Tells what to do when sick, cold, hungry, etc.

In the cognitive item, an adult might ask, “Did your grandma come to visit yesterday?” The child might answer yes or no, but neither answer requires a great deal of expressive language.

However, “What do you do when you are hungry?” has the intention of aiming for more self-expression than merely, “I eat.” A more appropriate answer might be, “I tell my mom I want something to eat,” or “I get an apple.”

Some children develop speech early. Others seem to understand much of what is said to them, but speech just doesn’t appear at the usual milestones. An informal way of assessing non-verbal communication for the 2 to 3 year-old who is not yet talking may be to use the Functional Communication Evaluation found in the Implementation Strategies section of the Manual.

Social

The development of the individual means that a child responds in acceptable ways to both adults and other children, can function independently in some areas for short periods of time, and adapts to new situations.

Children with visual impairments do not always develop skills that others learn by watching. For instance, for a child with little or no vision, it may not seem important to face the teacher when having a conversation. But the teacher (and classmates) expect to talk face-to-face. Some additional items that are important socially but are not generally included in traditional assessments are found in the OR Project.

Vision

The Vision and Compensatory Skills sections were designed to address the needs that are unique to young children with visual impairments. These two sections are a little different from the other sections. In these two sections, it is assumed that not every item will be appropriate for all children.

The Vision section includes many items that are usually found in the Cognitive or Fine Motor skill areas of other assessments. Examples are:

 Skill # 2.9 - Stacks 8 or 9 small cubes

  2.12 - Imitates circle 

  4.1 - Names 5 colors when shown samples

Many children will have enough vision to do some skills, but not enough to see small objects, or recognize detail in pictures, or print their names with a pencil. A team approach is important to decide which skills are a priority. Specialists may disagree on the relative importance of those skills that are physically possible versus those which are necessary to be successful in school (i.e., using scissors to cut accurately).

The skills in this section are sometimes difficult for children who are very adept in other areas, and seem to use their vision adequately to move about, to locate objects they are searching for, and to become alert to changes in the environment. For this section we recommend that the parent and specialist decide together which skills are appropriate for the child to learn, and which should be omitted. 

Compensatory Skills

This section complements the Vision section and addresses some of the needs which are unique to children with little or no vision. The most distinctive skills are located in the 5-6 Years section, where items address beginning Braille skills, classroom orientation and mobility, and the use of adaptive equipment such as an abacus, tape recorder, or Braille writer. The items at earlier age levels which focus on the development of listening skills and learning to use one’s hands as information-gathering tools are important precursors. 

Many items that are important to all children with visual impairments are included in one of the other six “main” sections. For example, “Moves body planes in relation to flat surfaces” is in the Cognitive area, because it is a skill that is important for children with vision as well as those with no vision. Some of the items that make the OR Project unique are scattered throughout different skill areas. Children may be assessed in either Vision or Compensatory, not necessarily both sections. 

Self-Help 

Skills at a preschool level are divided into eating, dressing, toileting and hygiene, and independence and safety skills. Within each year level, skills are grouped into these areas for ease of assessment and analyzing areas of difficulty. In the Reference Section there are checklists for Eating, Dressing and Toileting-Hygiene that list skills across age levels.

Fine Motor

The Fine Motor section contains those skills involving small muscle movements and manipulation of toys and school tools, like scissors and staplers. At the infant level, fine motor skills and cognitive skills are closely related, and separation is somewhat arbitrary, for the purposes of assessment only. When teaching these skills, it is important to emphasize concepts and vocabulary as well as manipulative skills.

The OR Project has separated skills for fine motor and visual motor perception. Within the Fine Motor section, the skills are not vision dependent. Drawing and other visually related manipulative tasks are found in the Vision section under Visual Motor.

Gross Motor

This section of the Skills Inventory primarily concerns skills requiring large muscle and movement activities - rolling, crawling, walking, running, jumping, etc. Gross motor skills are important because the child develops the muscle tone, stamina, and endurance required to master tasks in other areas.