Three step process

Ecological inventory

An ecological inventory is a process teachers use to identify functional or specialized skills students need to participate in school, home, or community activities. It focuses on real-life tasks rather than isolated developmental milestones, taking a top-down approach to curriculum.

It involves a five-step sequence:

1. Listing current and future student environments.

2. Identifying relevant sub-environments.

3. Listing priority activities in each sub-environment.

4. Identifying skills needed for those activities.

5. Prioritizing activities/skills for the student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP).

Listing Current and Future Environments

Teachers identify a student’s present and future school, home, and community environments through interviews. These include classrooms, cafeterias, gyms, and community places like grocery stores, malls, and medical services.

Identifying Relevant Sub Environments

Sub environments are specific areas where different activities occur, such as kitchens, bathrooms, or grocery store sections. Recognizing these allows teachers to plan functional skills relevant to each unique setting.

Listing Priority Activities

Teachers identify functional activities in sub environments, like ordering food in restaurants or navigating grocery stores. Activities are broken down into steps, ensuring students learn essential participation skills within environments.

Identifying Priority Skills

For each activity, teachers identify necessary motor, communication, social, and academic skills. For example, tube feeding requires equipment preparation, giving formula, and cleaning tools—focusing on practical life skills development.

Discrepancy Analysis

Discrepancy analysis identifies gaps between what a student can currently do and what is required. It involves observing performance, noting errors, and determining skills needing direct teaching, adaptation, or alternative strategies. This structured process highlights exact instructional needs for skill mastery.

Performing a Task Analysis

Task analysis breaks activities into small, measurable steps to support learning. Teachers or peers may model each step while recording functional or motor actions. This method allows clear observation of 

student ability, highlighting specific skills to target for teaching or adaptation.

Observing and score performance

Teachers observe whether students can perform task steps independently, with verbal guidance, or with physical assistance. The goal is to assess understanding, motor ability, and independence. Teachers record results, noting full independence, partial assistance, or guided performance, ensuring accurate tracking of student capabilities for instructional planning.

Recording Student Errors and Doing a Performance Discrepancy

When errors occur, teachers record them, analyzing causes such as cognitive, physical, sensory, motivational, or communication issues. This process helps identify why a step wasn’t completed, guiding whether further instruction, adaptations, or alternate strategies are necessary for student success in performing required skills.

Providing Instruction, Adaptations, or Alternate Performance Strategies

Teams decide whether to reteach as modeled, adapt tasks, or develop alternative strategies. Adaptations should only be used if essential, and instruction should promote independence. When adaptations are ineffective, alternative strategies (e.g., technology or communication devices) may be introduced, ensuring students achieve the same functional outcomes despite impairments.