Parent Resources
Getting Started	Welcome Parents
Why your child needs assessments?	Parent Testimony about Assessment
Unilateral Hearing Loss	F.A.M.I.L.Y Assessment
Terms and Definitions	An Open Letter to Parents

Assessment: Meeting Colorado's Standards 

Why Assess? How do I do it? Professional practice supports the need to assess children at specific intervals. District policies support assessment. And, of course, IDEA requires that children with special needs receive assessments at prescribed intervals. The assessment protocols that are used may be prescribed by the district, by the state, or they may be chosen by the teacher, the speech/language pathologist, and/or the educational audiologist.

Over the past several years, the Colorado Department of Education formulated a plan to assess all children with hearing loss using specific assessment procedures. These procedures are designed specifically for children with hearing acuity that is not within the normal range. The FAMILY Assessment is used for children from birth until 36 months of age. The Pre-CIPP is used for children in preschool. The CIPP is used for children who are school-aged. Each assessment will be reviewed individually in this article. So, please read on!

All of the assessments are supported by grant funds and carry no additional cost to families, therapists, or schools. These assessments constitute the assessment battery used for state accountability. Please refer to the table to learn more about the specific assessments. And, be sure to ask your interventionist, therapist, preschool teacher, or members of your child's education team about them.

Click here to read what one CHIP parent feels about assessment

Assessment Tools

FAMILY Assessment: This assessment was initially developed by the Colorado Home Intervention Program (CHIP) in 1986. It was intended to assist the early interventionist to plan goals for family-centered intervention. The FAMILY Assessment became a valuable research tool that helped support the development of universal newborn hearing screening in Colorado, in the United States, and abroad. The good news is that the assessment remains a clinical tool that continues to guide the early interventionist to identify strengths and needs for the child and the family. It is available to all children under the age of three, irrespective of the program in which they are enrolled.

Pre-CIPP (Preschool version of the Colorado Individual Performance Profile): The Pre-CIPP was designed in the early 1990's to provide professionals working with preschool aged children with educationally significant hearing loss an evaluation tool specific to the needs of this population. It can be used to establish goals for an individual child, to evaluate a child's progress within the selected program, and to determine placement into a variety of different types of preschool settings. The Pre-CIPP is recommended when a child enters preschool and when the child is preparing to "graduate" from the preschool program. It can also be used at additional intervals during preschool programming.

CIPP (Colorado Individual Performance Profile): The CIPP is a multi-purpose tool that collects information from standardized and functional assessments. It can be used to assist IEP teams to determine initial and ongoing services, supports and educational placements. It can be used to identify progress for an individual child. And, it can also be used to support funding decisions related to maintaining and improving services for youth who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.

Assessment Protocols:

Article written by Arlene Stredler Brown, CCC-SLP, CED, CHIP Director