Accessible Test

Braille Financial Record Keeper

(continued)

Purpose

To provide braille users with a system for easily storing and locating personal financial information

Project Staff

Mary T. (Terrie) Terlau, Project Leader

Fred Gissoni, Project Assistant
Background

During development of and subsequent presentations of the EZ Track Financial Record Keeper, 1-07920-00 (a financial organizer for large print users), consumers and professionals requested that APH develop a tool to organize and access financial information for braille users. The Braille DateBook, 1-07899-06, offers braille users a portable, logical system for organizing and accessing schedules, grocery lists, to do lists, and much more. A Financial Record Insert could give Braille DateBook users an efficient and user-friendly structure for organizing financial information. A more detailed financial organizer, which uses 8.5” X 11” paper in a three-ring binder, would include all of the organizational information found in its large print EZ Track counterpart.

Information about the EZ Track Financial Record Keeper can be found at the following link: http://sun1.aph.org/advisory/2003adv11.html
Information about the Braille DateBook can be found at the following link:
http://sun1.aph.org/advisory/2006adv07.html
It was decided that question stems would be embossed onto the DateBook paper rather than provided on pressure-sensitive labels for the customer to attach to the page. The project leader reformatted material from the EZ Track Financial Record Keeper for 8.5” x 11” braille paper and found that approximately 230 pages were required to allow space to fill in this material. The project leader evaluated two strategies for reducing the number of pages without loss of significant financial information: (1) providing guidelines and allowing users to enter data in a more free-flowing manner; and (2) using fewer, more general item stems so that less page space was needed for specific questions. Neither of these strategies proved to be ideal.
During FY 2007, assistance of Gissoni, Technical Support Specialist at APH, was sought and obtained. The project leader and Gissoni have discussed solutions and are exploring new ideas for maintaining product integrity and reducing the number of pages, the most promising being a book describing how to make a Financial Record Keeper based on the types of income and expenses relevant to the individual.
During FY 2008, Gissoni and Terlau discussed difficulties inherent in attempting to create a record book that would work for most people. They are considering the development of a guide book that would describe how individuals could create record books that are individualized for their particular types of financial records. Such a handbook might include sample pages and blank sheets for constructing customized record pages.
Work during FY 2009

Ongoing examination of layout issues suggested the value of a software solution in addition to or in lieu of a hard-copy braille solution.

Work planned for FY 2010

Prototype development and field review will be undertaken after basic design issues have been resolved.

Functional Assessment

(Continued)
Purpose

To provide assessment tools for daily living/functional skills for students in primary grades, middle school, secondary school, and transition classes

Project Staff

Mary T. (Terrie) Terlau, Adult Life Project Leader

Diane Bender, Project Consultant

Ann Travis, Research/Project Assistant

Background

As the Expanded Core Curriculum becomes increasingly important in the education of students who are blind or visually impaired, a systematic method for assessing a student’s progress in learning functional skills becomes essential. Many schools for the blind, university training programs, and rehabilitation agencies have developed their own strategies for assessing different aspects of self-care and daily living tasks. However, a systematic assessment process that incorporates a criterion-based scoring system and utilizes core curriculum skills in all levels of its functional assessment has not been made widely available. The need for such a comprehensive system has been expressed by numerous educators of persons who are blind or visually impaired.

Dianne Bender’s assessment system for functional skills has been developed during her extensive teaching career in a residential school for the blind setting. Bender’s system is being used as the basis for the Functional Assessment project because of its comprehensive coverage of functional skill areas, scorable testing protocols, and concise, clear testing directions.
Telephone conferences with Bender resulted in the finalization of four areas to be included in the Functional Assessment: Food Management; Clothing Management; Personal Management; and Home Management.
Based on this plan, Bender submitted revised materials for all four levels of each of these modules. Item editing/revision and creation of additional items by Bender and the project leader have continued.
Work during FY 2009

The project leader has carefully reviewed all items at all levels in all modules of the system. She has prepared suggested item changes throughout all modules and levels of the assessment to support more standardization across assessors and to equalize weights given to similar items across module levels. She has spoken with Bender about these issues; has provided general descriptions of and rationale for item changes; and has prepared specific item change suggestions in spreadsheet format. Spreadsheets with specific item content changes have been sent to Bender for her consideration and review.

Work planned for FY 2010

Bender and the project leader will complete item revisions that support standardization of item administration across assessors; additional item changes will be made to support relatively similar increments of skill difficulty between levels. Prototype development is expected to be completed and expert review will be initiated.