Measuring Functional Independence of Students with Severe Disabilities: Issues and Methods

This review highlights issues in functional outcome assessment and describes educationally based func-tional outcome measures applicable to students with severe disabilities. The demand for increased inclu-sion of students with disabilities in general education settings has resulted in a need for assessments to identify students ’ capabilities to meet the functional as well as academic demands of school. Students with disabilities often have difficulties at school because of physical, cognitive, behavioral, social, and emo-tional impairments that interfere with their ability to participate fully in learning activities. Specific norm-referenced and criterion-referenced instruments are reviewed for their usefulness in describing func-tional independence and functional challenges across educational settings. Functional outcome assessment reveals the degree of independent versus dependent per-formance in school and community. Such information can help identify the supports an individual needs to optimize independent functioning. Functional independence is a key component of self-determination, which leads to a better quality of life for persons with severe disabilities (Algozzine, Browder