CUYAHOGA COUNTY BOARD OF MENTAL RETARDATION AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES

EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAM
William Patrick Day Early Childhood Center
MOVE® Curriculum Achievement Data

Dr. Christine E. Cook
Manager & MOVE Model Site administrator
July 25, 2006

The following data were calculated from the MOVE® Curriculum Assessment protocols for 34 children ages 2 to 6, at the William Patrick Day Early Childhood Center. The children in the group had a completed pre and post assessment and at least 6 months of instruction. There were some children who left abruptly during the year due to family or health issues, did not have a post assessment and so were not included in this sample.

The data reflects gains made in the 16 Skill Areas of the assessment clumped into 1) Sitting, 2) Transitioning between Sitting and Standing, 3) Standing, 4) Transitioning between Standing and Walking, and 5) Walking. There are a total of 72 Motor Milestones within these Skill Areas. In addition, data is reported to reflect the number of Level changes that children made between the 4 Levels as follows: Level III (total care required), Level II (minimal lifting required), Level I (no lifting required) and Graduate Level (independence). Changes from one level to another are significant because of the positive impact these changes have on the family's ability to care for their child.

Each of the 34 children has complex needs that are individual and different from each other. Interpretation of results must be made with caution. Gains or lack of gains in some cases are affected by many variables in addition to programming. Variables include the child's medical condition, attendance at school, and follow-through at home. However, as Dr. Margery Welch, past-principal, said in last year's report, we can use the information to discover trends that may help us answer the question, "Are students making mobility progress as a result of the MOVE® Curriculum and if so, what does that look like?"

Results:

The group of 34 children achieved an average of 8.3 Motor Milestones and moved an average of 5.4 Levels overall. Although there are only four levels in the assessment, many children gained more than one level in more than one area over the course of the year. Gains ranged widely between children, from 0-51 Motor Milestones and 0-32 Levels. An interesting finding was that most of the gains were in the skill areas related to walking and the least gains were in the skill areas related to sitting. This information can inform our intervention in the future resulting in a greater focus on sitting skills.

Five children demonstrated no changes over the school year on the MOVE® assessment. However, these children tend to have uneven development and most demonstrated gains the previous year(s). Not surprisingly, the younger group of children (18 months to 3 years old) made the most significant gains. At the age of three, many children exit our program if they can function successfully in their local public school leaving more seriously challenged preschool children in our program.

Future Plans:

We are very encouraged by these excellent results to continue to use the MOVE® Curriculum in our program and act as a Model Site for parents and professionals. Our goals for the future are to apply the principles and strategies of MOVE® over the course of a longer school day in order to 1) increase each child's ability to participate in play and academic activities, and 2) to increase the opportunities that children have to practice skills which will move them up through the levels of the curriculum.

The CCBMR/DD Early Childhood MOVE® program continues to fill a need in the community for children who have severe physical disabilities accompanied with cognitive and language delays. Ten school systems placed children in the MOVE® program this past year, most of them providing transportation.

As a MOVE® Model Site, we have received numerous visits from interested families and professionals and have scheduled some to receive training at our site. This summer, we sent two additional staff members to California for training as Site Trainers. We have also laid plans to increase the use of the MOVE® curriculum in our school-age program.