Skill Strengths and Needs Assessment
Key Takeaways
- Skill assessment identifies both current strengths and missing component skills.
- A skill deficit means the learner cannot perform the response under relevant conditions; a performance deficit means the skill exists but does not occur reliably.
- Skill assessment should sample prerequisite, replacement, adaptive, communication, and generalization needs as relevant.
- Goal selection should follow assessment data rather than age norms or stakeholder preference alone.
Skill Assessment Purpose
Skill assessment asks what the learner can do now, under which conditions, with which materials, and with how much support. It should not only list deficits. Strengths help identify entry points, reinforcers, response forms, and realistic next goals.
A BCBA may assess communication, learner readiness, daily living, academic components, social interaction, motor imitation, safety skills, self-management, or vocational routines. The scope depends on referral concerns, setting, age, risks, and client priorities.
Skill Decision Table
| Data pattern | Likely implication |
|---|---|
| Never performs with prompts or models | Possible skill deficit or inaccessible response form |
| Performs with prompts only | Prompt dependence or weak stimulus control |
| Performs in one setting only | Generalization need |
| Performs when motivated but not on request | Performance deficit or MO issue |
| Performs components but not sequence | Chaining or task analysis need |
Assessment Methods
Skill assessment can use direct probes, task analyses, curriculum-based assessments, caregiver or teacher interviews, product review, and observation in natural routines. Indirect reports are useful, but direct probes often reveal prompt levels, errors, and missing prerequisites.
From Assessment to Goals
A defensible goal identifies the response, condition, criterion, and context. If the assessment shows the client can request a break with gestures but not with the communication device used at school, the next goal may target device-based break requests in difficult tasks.
Do not select goals only because they appear in a curriculum sequence. Use the assessment question: Which skill will most improve access, independence, safety, communication, or participation now?
A learner can zip a jacket after an adult starts the zipper but cannot align the zipper independently. What goal decision is most directly supported?
A student reads sight words accurately with one teacher but not with peers, substitutes, or in the library. Which assessment finding is most relevant?
Which goal is best supported by a skill assessment showing that a client hits to escape tasks but can independently hand over a break card during low-effort activities?