This week I’ve been working on analyzing data. The classrooms that PaTTAN serves use a VB-MAPP assessment created by Mark Sundberg. The assessment tests students on what they know. The assessment is given in the beginning of the year and again at the end of the year and is shown on a chart with two colors—the first test (pre-test) and the second test (post-test).

Once the teachers turn in their charts, I sort them by school, class, teacher, and time that the classroom has been using VB-MAPPS.  I enter each student’s total test scores (pre and post) in an Excel document along with pre and post scores for mands, tacts, listener responses, socialization, and intraverbals. It’s so neat to see the children’s progress and how much they learn over the course of a school year.

The student’s VB-MAPPs show how effective applied behavior analysis techniques are for children with autism which is one of the biggest benefits of applied behavior analysis techniques—the proof and evidence. Many other techniques used with children who have autism aren’t proven in data.

While analyzing charts, calculating scores, and entering data isn’t the most fun work, it’s interesting to see how helpful the VB-MAPP program has been for these children with autism!