I remember when I first started teaching, the assessment tools I used were not an appropriate educational fit for my students. I constantly felt frustrated with assessing students and I never felt like I had it down. Then, I met the VB-MAAP and everything changed.
The Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP) is a Language and Social Skills Assessment Program for children with Autism or Other Intellectual Disabilities, per the cover of the guide. More simply, it is the perfect assessment tool for my students with autism that have lower cognitive profiles and are either non-verbal or have limited verbal skills. I’m going to break this post down into four main parts of the assessment.
Milestones Assessment
The milestones are the meat of the assessment. There are three different levels: Level 1 (color-coded orange), Level 2 (color-coded green) and Level 3 (color-coded blue). The milestones cover a variety of skills, including mand, tact, listener-responder, visual perception, social behavior, and motor imitation. More skills such as feature, function, class, and reading skills are built into Level 2 and 3.
If you don’t know what those terms mean, don’t worry! The introduction does a great job at explaining the basic terminology to help you be successful with the assessment. My favorite part is the suggested IEP goals. What good is assessment data if you don’t know what to do with it?You can see where your student’s deficits are and use the suggested IEP goals to formulate your plan.
Barriers Assessment
The barriers assessment looks at 24 different behaviors that might be interfering with your student’s progress. The great thing about the barriers assessment is it gives you concrete terminology to discuss behaviors. Instead of saying, “This student is very hyperactive,” you can talk about what hyperactive behavior is and how it impacts the student. Behaviors are rated on a scale of 0 (no problem) to 4 (severe problem). Behaviors that score a 3 or 4 are highly likely to be impacting the student and are good areas where you can increase your interventions.
Early Echoic Skills Assessment
The Early Echoic Skills Assessment (EESA) tests a child’s ability to repeat speech sounds. Different areas tested include phonemes, syllables, and intonations. It also walks through the typical progression of skill acquisition with regard to speech skills. It helps you know where a student is with their speech skills and a good direction to move forward.
Transitions Assessment
The transitions assessment pairs the scores of the milestones assessment, barriers assessment, and EESA. It also adds in other important areas including classroom behavior and toileting skills. It helps give a concrete snapshot of where a student is and answers some of the important questions that might be asked by the new teacher in the transition process.
The VB-MAAP is a criterion-referenced assessment tool widely used in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and other special education fields. It is a respected assessment tool and will help you become more prepared when talking about your student’s learning profile. You can learn more about the VB-MAPP here and grab it on Amazon here. If you are more of a visual/auditory learner, I recorded a video here walking you through the VB-MAPP.
If you are feeling overwhelmed by administering the VB-MAPP, check out my resource kit here!
I love using the VB-MAPP in my classroom. It makes a stronger IEP and a stronger plan for my students. My students make more meaningful, measurable progress. It creates a great base for my team and helps my classroom run smoothly. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!