DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTELLIGENT COMPUTERIZED JOB AID FOR OBSERVATION AND ASSESSMENT OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN WITH DISABILITES

THE PURPOSE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO ASSESS THE POTENTIAL OF A NEURAL NET-BASED COMPUTER PROGRAM AS A PRESCHOOL EVALUATION JOB AID THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF AN OBSERVATION JOB AID PROTOTYPE. THIS PROTOTYPE WILL UTILIZE PATTERN RECOGNITION CAPABILITIES OF NEURAL NET IN MAKING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN TRADITIONALLY COLLECTED TEST SCORES AND COMPUTER ASSISTED ON SITEOBSERVATIONS. THIS PROJECT WILL ADDRESS A CRITICAL NEED FOR CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN ASSESSMENT DATA AND SUBSEQUENT INTERVENTION STRATEGIES WITH PRESCHOOL CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES. THERE IS CURRENTLY NO EFFECTIVE MEANS OF SYSTEMATICALLY UTILIZING THE PLETHORA OF OBJECTIVES, STRATEGIES AND RESEARCH DATA GATHERED ON EARLY INTERVENTION SINCE THE REAUTHORIZATION OF P.L.99-457, PART H. THROUGH THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGY, SPECIFICALLY NEURALNETWORKS, THE PROPOSED COMPUTERIZED JOB AID WOULD LEAD TO FUTURE MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM COACHING OF THE OBSERVATION AND ASSESSMENT OF THE CHILD AND SUBSEQUENT PRESCRIPTIVE INFORMATIONFOR INSTRUCTION INTERVENTIONS.