Critical Skills Reference Sheet

CRITICAL SKILLS REFERENCE SHEET A skill is critical when the loss of that skill results in any of the following actions during the first 8 weeks of school:

ACTION WHAT DOES IT MEAN? 1. Placement in a more restrictive instructional 1. The student will need more time in the special education arrangement setting: more resource, more speech, more OT, etc. The loss must impact the student in such a way that an IEP meeting will be required to increase special education time.

2. A significant loss of a mastered skill necessary 2. Example: In May, the student had mastered certain for the student to progress in the general critical skills. It is now 6-8 weeks into the new school year curriculum and the student is still performing significantly below the level of mastery demonstrated in May. You have spent over 2 months going over TEKS the child appeared to have mastered in May.

3. A significant loss of self-sufficiency in self-help 3. Additional therapy or assistance is now required for the skill area student to perform self-help skills mastered at the end of the last school year. Ex: Where the students did not need as much 1:1 assistance, he needs it now.

4. A loss of access to community-based 4. Due to a regression in skills, the student no longer independent living skills instruction demonstrates skills needed to access community, no longer qualifies for the group home or independent living conditions.

5. A loss of access to on-the-job training or 5. Regression is so severe that it results in loss of on-the- productive employment job training or employment.

Aug. 2010 Critical Skills Reference Sheet – Page 2 I. Critical skills to be considered for students in PPCD, LIFE Skills or others with significant deficits: (This list is not all inclusive. Please use Page 1 of the Critical Skills Reference Sheet to assist in determining other applicable skills.) 1. Behavior:  Maintaining impulse control  Interacting appropriately with peers and/or adults  Transitioning which may be manifested by: Ex: begin task, follow routine, stay on task 2. Communication:  Communicating wants and needs on a daily basis  Expressive language  Receptive language 3. Self-Help:  Toileting  Feeding 4. Mobility:  Adaptive equipment to maintain muscular control  Adaptive equipment necessary to maintain mobility

II. Critical skills to be considered for students in resource or less restrictive programs: (This list is not all inclusive. Please use Page 1 of the Critical Skills Reference Sheet to assist in determining other applicable skills.) 1. Reading:  Decoding – loss of more than 1 year reading level  Comprehension – no longer able to obtain meaning from text 2. Writing:  No longer able to communicate through written text 3. Math:  Loss of basic skills needed addition, subtraction, multiplication, division  Loss of one-to-one correspondence  No longer able to count to complete mathematical operations  No longer able to recognize and comprehend number value