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VIDBE - Q Volume 6 4 Issue 1
interested in the world around them, and Dr. Dijk found that in order to help
them demonstrate their learning and skills, he needed to go "inside" their
world and understand their values and meanings (MacFarland, 1995).
Therefore, in the child - guided fra mework, the assessor must ensure that
his/her emotions and communications are attuned with the assessed child.
Throughout the assessment, the assessor follows the child's interests and
movements as interactive, communicative routines are built. In order to
accomplish this, the assessor begins the assessment by observing the
child and then imitating and following what the child does. When a turn -
taking routine is established, new information is incrementally added.
Communicative signals are elicited by stopp ing the routine and asking the
child to communicate whether it should continue, stop, or move to
something new. Throughout, each of the child's movements and behaviors
are responded to as communication. After several such routines are
established, the asse ssor asks the child to follow his/her lead as imitation
and more complex routines are both assessed and scaffolded. Learning
experiences are built that allow the child to demonstrate existing skills,
ability to adapt to and accommodate new information, and ability to learn
new skills (Nelson, et al., 2009).
