Assessment of Discrimination Skills of Multiply Handicapped Preschoolers and Prediction of Classroom Task Performance

Seven tasks of discrimination skill were used to assess multiply handicapped preschool children. One task assessed sign discrimination skill, two tasks assessed auditory skill, two tasks assessed visual skill, and two tasks assessed motor skill. For 10 of 11 children, the tasks were hierarchically ordered in difficulty. Children who passed the auditory tasks passed all of the tasks, children who passed the sign task passed the visual and motor tasks, and children who passed the visual tasks always passed the motor tasks. The results of assessment were used to predict the performance of seven of the children on four common classroom tasks. Each classroom task was presented under three modes of presentation: auditory, sign, and visual. Overall, 92% of the predictions made were accurate for the sample tested, indicating that the discrimination assessment was successful in determining the preferred presentation mode(s) for each child.