This review highlights issues in functional outcome assessment and describes educationally based functional outcome measures applicable to students with severe disabilities. The demand for increased inclusion of students with disabilities in general education settings has resulted in a need for assessments to identify students' capabilities to meet the functional as well as academic demands of school. Students with disabilities often have difficulties at school because of physical, cognitive, behavioral, social, and emotional impairments that interfere with their ability to participate fully in learning activities. Specific norm-referenced and criterion-referenced instruments are reviewed for their usefulness in describing functional independence and functional challenges across educational settings.
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