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1College of Science, University of Santo Tomas
2College of Education, University of Santo Tomas
3Faculty of Medicine, University of Santo Tomas
4College of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Santo Tomas
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An attempt was made to develop a Tool for Measuring Acquired Skills (ToMAS) covering eight (8) subscales, namely: cognitive skills, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, self-help skills, speech and language, receptive language, expressive language and socio-emotional behaviour. Items for the different skills were formulated based on existing literature, focus group discussions with peers and actual experiences with children of various types. Pilot tested with 89 children (33 regular and 56 children with disabilities), mean scores and standard deviation values obtained from both regular children and children with disabilities reveal homogeneity in composition. Professionals were asked to rate children with disabilities to establish the reliability of ToMAS. Chi square results reveal insignificant reliability indices except for Speech and Language Skills. Indices of item discrimination were computed. Preliminary form with 116 items, together with Brigance Screens III, was administered to 210 children for convergent validity. Significant relationships were found between the Gross and Fine motor skills of ToMAS and Physical Domain of Brigance. Overall, ToMAS, in its initial and preliminary form, is a valid and promising tool. Hopefully, when SPED teachers will be given sufficient training time and preliminary form is administered to a large population, psychometric properties will improve.
