Sign Language Proficiency Assessment
SCPI/MSCPI
Frequently Asked Questions
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What is Sign Communication Proficiency Interview (SCPI)?
It is a sign language proficiency assessment interview that documents the level of proficiency or how well the individual can function using ASL/sign language to communicate his/her thoughts, ideas, and opinions in a face-to-face conversation with a superior level sign communicator. The SCPI interview assessment has three parts to the entire process, the interview process, rating process and reporting process. All candidates have the option to review their videotaped interview with a trained SCPI team member to help in improving their sign communication skills.
Results of the SCPI interview is shown as a specific rating level which is a criterion referenced (based on predetermined standards) that reflects the specific level of functioning. For detailed description of proficiency levels go to www.rit.edu/wjnned/scpi/main. What is MSCPI?
It is Modified sign communication Proficiency Interview (MSCPI) which is a one-to one structured videotaped conversational interviewer of a deaf/hard of hearing student* who is under 14 years old and not in the 9th grade with a trained MSCPI interviewer. The purpose of the MSCPI to determine the current level of sign ASL/sign language communication skills and to make sure the candidate is making appropriate developmental language acquisition gains.
The MSCPI interview has three parts to the entire process, the interview, the rating and the reporting process. All candidates interviewed have the option to review their (with or without their parent/teacher) videotaped interview with a trained SCPI/MSCPI team member to improve their child/student’s sign language communication skills. * Students must meet eligibility requires as defined in the Michigan revised Administrative Rules for Special Education (November 2002).
Who can take the SCPI/MSCPI?
This service is currently available on a first-come-first served basis to individuals working or considered for employment in any Michigan school district that provide services to deaf and hard of hearing students *. School district personnel, teachers, paraprofessionals, bus drivers, counselors that are engaged in direct interaction with individuals (adults/students) that use ASL/Sign Language as their mode of communication.
Sign Language Interpreters can take the SCPI for professional development to identify areas of strengths and weakness to develop superior level sign communication skills necessary when engaged in conversation with a deaf/hard of hearing student, deaf parents and/or professional deaf staff member. This does not imply level of interpreting skills nor does it replace the need for obtaining appropriate Interpreter proficiency certification (RID or QA).
* as defined in the Michigan Revised Administrative Rules for Special Education (November 2002).
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How much does the SCPI or MSCPI cost?
It is provided at no cost to school districts as part of outreach services. This is available on a fee-for-service basis to individuals or agencies not directly affiliated with Michigan Department of Special Education based on SCPI program schedules and team member availability.
Why Should I Take the SCPI?
Candidates after taking the interview will be able to:
- Document level of proficiency in use of ASL/sign language to communicate.
- Identify specific areas of ASL/sign language communication skills that need further development.
- Meet on with SCPI team member to review videotaped interview for more ideas, suggestions and specific activities or techniques to help improve sign communication skills.
- Provide documentation that progress has been made since last SCPI interview if a candidate has not achieved the expected level of sign language competence needed for employment.
Why should school age children take the MSCPI?
Parents, school programs and teachers after receiving the MSCPI report and/or post-interview session will:
- Have information about the current level functioning of an individual student that is deaf or hard of hearing can communicate on a variety of age appropriate/developmentally appropriate topics.
- Have documentation of language acquisition development gains of the student over time (repeated MSCPI/SCPI interviews).
- Possible sign communication goals to be used for future program planning by IEP team.
- Help IEP team/school program in providing appropriate instruction targets to foster sign language acquisition skills and improve sign communication outcomes.
- It will assist school personnel (Sign Language Interpreters, paraprofessionals, counselors) to use the appropriate level of signing to ensure the student is understands what was conveyed by the classroom teacher.
- Assist Sign Language Interpreters working with the student to become more effective in conveying information conveyed by teacher, support staff and other hearing students at the level that is readily understood by the deaf and hard of hearing student.
- Have data on sign language communication skills of all students in the program to make sure students are developing age appropriate sign language skills throughout the program.
The results of the interview is a narrative report that notes skills demonstrated and areas needing further development to achieve age appropriate competencies that is expected of his/her peers. This is a norm referenced test (based on comparisons) of similar age native signers which was gathered from over 400 MSCPI interviews and intensive research of normal ASL acquisition development levels of deaf children. At this time, there are no nationally established criterion norms for sign language proficiency levels of deaf /hh children.
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SCPI? MSCPI? Are they different? Why the different names?
No, the process is similar for both assessment tools with one designed for adults and one for school aged children. All SCPI team members are trained to the SCPI adult process while the MSCPI team members have additional training to interview and rate children. This requires additional knowledge of age appropriate communication skills for the population we are serving. However, the goal is the same for both assessments- to determine the level of proficiency of ASL/sign language communication skills to successfully communicate with deaf and hard-of hearing children, youth and adults.
Why the change from SCPI to SLPI?
Sign Communication Proficiency Interview (SCPI) label was changed last June, 2006 to Sign Language Proficiency Interview (SLPI) by creators of this evaluation tool, William Newell and Frank Caccamise of National Technical Institute of the Deaf,(NTID) of Rochester New York. For more information go to www.rit.edu/wjnned/scpi/main click on history of SLPI.
What will happen during the interview? The interview processes for both the SCPI and MSCPI is similar, this question can apply to both assessments.
The SCPI/MSCPI interviewer will meet you to take you to the designated location for the interview to take place. It is a one-to-one interview that will range between 20 to 30 minutes long which is videotaped. The SCPI/MSCPI interviewer will ask questions in ASL/sign language only about your job, family and recreational (students are asked about family, school and recreational activities) activities to elicit or convey natural conversation requiring detailed responses which can attest to the highest skill level of signing as well as demonstrating knowledge of ASL/sign language conversational strategies. After the interview, the videotaped is sent back to MDE-LIO office in Flint to the SCPI Coordinator to be given to a rating team.
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What are some tips for SCPI interview candidates to consider?
- Wear solid colored tops, blouses or shirts that provide a good contrast to your skin color.
- Clothing with “busy” prints often makes it difficult for raters to see what you are signing and this could affect their rating of your skills.
- Not only is it important that the raters are able to see your signs clearly, they also need to see your facial expressions. Do not wear dark glasses or mirrored sun glasses.
- Be aware of hair styles that cover your face or cause you to constantly pushing your hair away from your face. It can be very distracting at the same time affect your sign fluency while conversing.
- Do not chew gum or have hard candy in your mouth during the interview. Having something in your mouth can inhibit your use of natural ASL/sign language mouth movements.
What is assessed during the rating session? The SCPI/MSCPI raters are trained to look at the candidate’s performance in key components in ASL/sign language usage to determine proficiency levels. The key areas of focus for raters are:
- Sign production (use of signing parameters, clarity of signs)
- Level of ASL/sign vocabulary knowledge demonstrated
- Use of American Sign Language grammatical features during interview (or lack of usage)
- Fluency of using ASL/Sign language to convey ideas, thoughts and opinions during the interview.
- Level of comprehension or receptive skills to show the ease of understanding of what was signed.
- Use of culturally appropriate sign conversational strategies such as eye contact, appropriate turn taking in dialogue, interruptions etc.
For more detailed information go to www.rit.edu/wjnned/scpi/main click on important skills needed for ASL/sign language communication. Will the names of the raters be disclosed? Will I know who will be rating my SCPI interview videotape or my child’s interview videotape?
No, the names of the rating team members will be confidential. Raters will excuse themselves if they have any conflict of interest, personal relationship or if for any other reason cannot offer a fair and impartial evaluation.
All SCPI team members must keep everything related to a candidate’s interview confidential. All members of the rating team have gone through intensive training/or refresher training sessions from NTID appointed SCPI trainers in May, 2006.
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Can I have a copy of the videotaped interview? Can I see my interview videotape? No copies are made of the interview tape is permitted; all videotaped interviews are the property of MDE-LIO program and will be erased after 6 months from the interview date.
We strongly recommend this for all first time candidates to take advantage of this opportunity to have a team member walk you through your interview tape and discuss your interview performance and report to make this process more helpful.
Parents may view their child’s interview with the SCPI team member to better help understand what is needed to help improve their child’s ASL/sign language communication skills. Teachers of students interviewed must have parental permission to look at a student’s interview tape with a SCPI team member. All student interview tapes are erased one year after the interview date. How do I schedule a SCPI or MSCPI?
Scheduling for SCPI or MSCPI is on first-come-first-served basis. Due to the popular demand, it is recommended that you contact the SCPI coordinator as soon as possible after deciding to have SCPI and/or MSCPI performed in your school.
SCPI and MSCPI interviews are usually done during the regular school year (September to June).
We are now developing a process to offer pre-hire SCPI interviews for potential employee candidates that will be hired to work with deaf and hard of hearing children in hearing impaired programs. Contact Diana McKittrick, SCPI coordinator for more details on how you can take advantage of this service. Where will the interviews be conducted?
For requests of 4 or more interviews, we can send a team to your location. If you have less than four individuals the interviews will be conducted at our Flint office site. However, please call the SCPI coordinator, Diana McKittrick, to see how we can assist your program on arranging interviews that will be efficient for both programs.
If there are more than 3 people scheduled (it can be a combination of SCPI and/or MSCPI), the SCPI interviewing team will come to your location. The SCPI coordinator and the program administrator will work together to coordinate the process.
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What is the SCPI/MSCPI report?
Each SCPI candidate will be receive from our office a letter with several documents. One document will be a form showing SCPI rating level and another document which is a detailed report showing overall functioning skills, specific skills that are noted and areas needing improvement.
MSCPI reports are narrative description of student’s performance and do not reflect specific rating levels. Students who take MSCPI receive a detailed report regarding his/her receptive and expressive ASL/sign language communication skills. The report will describe their current sign language functioning demonstrated at the interview as well as targeted areas to work on for improvement in sign language communication skills.
How many levels of sign language communication functioning are there in the SCPI rating process?
There are 11 rating levels ranging from No Functional Skills to Superior Plus (native-signer). For more detailed explanation of each level go to www.rit.edu/wjnned/scpi/main.
What will happen when I call to set up an SCPI/MSCPI interview(s)?
You will talk to Diana McKittrick, SCPI Coordinator, at 760-2796 TTY/V during regular business hours to discuss potential dates, the number of candidates you want to put through the process and any other additional services.
Once a date has been established, an information packet will be sent to the program administrator or designated contact person that has all the necessary information needed for our trip to your site. The packet will include information for scheduling, schedule forms and other documents you will need to given to those who are taking the SCPI. This packet will also have tips for candidates, brief overview of the process to share, eligibility certificate for MSCPI as well as permission forms for MSCPI interviews and a copy of the SCPI rating levels. Two weeks before the SCPI team will arrive, we will be asking for a schedule of candidates and times of their interview appointment. Note: all MSCPI interviews must be deaf or hard of hearing as defined in the Michigan Revised Administrative Rules for Special Education (November 2002) and we have parental permission for each child interviewed. No student will be interviewed if we do not have any parental permission.
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How often can I take the SCPI/MSCPI?
One evaluation a year is recommended if young children between ages 3 to 8 years old as their progress of language acquisition and changes in communication skills are fairly rapid.
Children who are older than 8 years old and not showing any sign language communication delay, an evaluation every two years is recommended to ensure that child is making age appropriate progress in their sign language communication skills.
Students who are not at age level or show significant sign language communication proficiency delays should be considered to have plans made to re-interview once a year to ensure the student is making some progress in their language acquisition. This will allow for adaptations to be made for intervention or instructional planning.
Adults should wait at least one year before scheduling another SCPI interview. Significant sign communication skill level changes typically do not show significant changes in performance to change the results of the proficiency levels (especially from Survival plus and above).
Adults who have obtained advanced plus to superior level do not have to re-take the SCPI interview again. How long is my SCPI rating valid?
The SCPI assessment looks at the performance of the individual at the time of the interview.
Sometimes there can be a change in one level when discussing results obtained within a brief time period (a few days to two-to-three months), changes in one level (for example, Survival & Survival Plus) may be simply related to normal fluctuations in how people perform in general. We would not expect fluctuations of more than one level for results obtained within a brief time period. Individuals at Advanced Plus and above typically do not show a drop in their SLPI/SCPI levels because their sign language skills are very strong and broad.
Individuals with Advanced level and below ratings are more likely to drop one or even more than one level because their sign language communication skills are not as strong and broad as those in the higher levels. Is SCPI a new assessment in Michigan?
SCPI has been a tool used in Michigan since 1989(?) by the Michigan School for the Deaf (MSD) to assess the sign communication skills of all MSD employees working for the school. Several years later, the school in response to the need and requests from outside of the school system, the Community SCPI program was created. This was done to allow other governmental entities outside of MSD, agencies and individuals not employed at MSD to be able to utilize this tool to obtain documentation of sign language proficiency levels of their employees (or potential employees) to ensure effective communication when interacting with deaf and hard of hearing individuals.
In 2002, the SCPI program was transferred under Low Incidence Outreach with services provided to educational systems.
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Where is the SCPI/MSCPI office located?
It is on the second floor of Fay Hall which is in front of the Michigan School for the Deaf Campus in Flint, Michigan.
Is the SCPI program under Michigan School for the Deaf?
No. It is under the Department of Education-Low Incidence Outreach which serves all educational programs, including MSD that are providing services to deaf and hard of hearing children * in Michigan.
It was transferred in 2002 from Michigan School for the Deaf to MSBD Low Incidence Outreach now known as MDE-LIO. How long do you keep the information about my SCPI level?
All SCPI/MSCPI interview videotapes are erased after the designed time period which is 6 months. All written reports will be kept on file for one year after the interview date and shredded after the allocated time.
Individuals with superior or superior plus levels will have their name kept on a master list indicating that you have achieved this level and do not need to re take the SCPI interview again.
* Students must meet the eligibility requires as defined in the Michigan Revised Administrative Rules for Special education (November 2002).
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