An individualized program as an opportunity for formative assessment progress of pupil with mild mental disability

Students with moderate and severe developmental disorders learn more slowly, they need a lot of illustrations, depictions, as well as more external support and encouragement. They have a lower need for self-affirmation and a lack of self-activity. The basic guide for working with such students is an individualized program. One of the legal provisions of the Placement of Children with Special Needs Act is that a child with special needs must be included in the preparation and monitoring of an individualized program. In a special education program, teachers often think that the low abilities of students make this hardly possible. Individualization is one of the main principles when working with children with special needs. In order to take into account the needs, strengths and weaknesses of each student individually and to monitor his progress, we had to use the formative assessment, which is becoming more and more popular in education. Formative assessment is based on identifying the child’s current knowledge, the desired goal, opportunities for improvement, and finding ways to reach the desired goals. However, it is important that the child is actively involved in the process of planning, implementing, and evaluative learning. In the master’s thesis, we presented an example of the introduction of the formative assesment of progress in the individualized program of a student with a moderate developmental disorder. In the theoretical part of the thesis, we presented the basic theoretical starting points of the formative assessment of student progress and linked them meaningfully with the goals and principles of individualization for students with special needs; in our example, students with moderate developmental disorders. Furthermore, in the empirical part of the thesis, in the form of a singular case study, we actively involved a student with a moderate developmental disorder in the process of planning, implementing, and evaluating an individualized program using selected elements of the formative assessment of student’s progress. Participating members of the expert group reported during the research that through the opportunity to participate in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of an individualized program, the student became more motivated to learn and more responsible for her achievements and learning progress. Additionally, they stated that there was an increase in collaboration within the expert group as well as with the student’s parents. The master’s thesis contributes to raising awareness among special and rehabilitation educators about formative assessment of student progress, as a possible way to check and monitor the progress of students with moderate and severe developmental disorders, as well as to increase their activity through all phases of an individualized program