Understanding Functional Skills: Background for the COS Process

The goal of early intervention and early childhood special education is to enable young children with disabilities to be active and successful participants during their early childhood years and in the future. Child outcomes are the benefits that children and families experience as a result of early intervention or early childhood special education services. This document helps teams think about measuring a child's use and integration of functional skills to participate in their everyday routines. This resource will help teams further their understanding of the following questions: (1) What makes a skill functional?; (2) How does context help align functional skills with each of the three outcomes?; and (3) How do teams assess functional skills?