Personal profile assessment summary: Creating windows into the worlds of children with special needs

Multiple variables have combined to create a need for alternative assessment procedures for students with moderate and severe disabilities. These forces include the highly specialized needs of these students; the move toward inclusion, which necessitates changes in the composition and interaction of teams; and advances in assessment practices in this and related areas. In this article, we present a rationale and explanation of a particular type of alternative assessment, that of a personal profile assessment summary, which is a means of gathering, synthesizing, and conveying critical information about students with moderate and severe disabilities. This personal profile summary provides a brief but in-depth view of a child in terms of the abilities he or she is proud of, interests, challenges, optimal learning conditions, and family life. We conclude with a summary of information from a preliminary study on the use of personal profile summaries.