Functional Versus Developmental Assessment

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Abstract
To examine the effects of the type of assessment report on educators' planning decisions, 86 educators of students with severe mental retardation were assigned randomly to one of two groups, those reading a functional assessment report or those reading a developmental assessment report for the same student with severe mental retardation. After reading the assessment report, each educator wrote five instructional objectives and made recommendations for service delivery. No significant differences were found in the quality of Individualized Education Program (IEP) objectives. However, more participants in the developmental group recommended related services than those in the functional group. In addition, educators who read the functional reports recommended less restrictive placements than those who read developmental reports.