Rethinking Assessment: The RBI Advantage

In the many years I have conducted and coached others to use the Routines-Based Interview (RBI), I maintain that it is the best tool available for getting to know a child and family, assessing the child’s functioning, and getting a list of meaningful goals that I can start working on at my next visit.

My responses to other practitioners' concerns have always focused on the following:

1. Functional assessment is best practice

We know that many standardised assessments are not suitable for children with disabilities. The description of standardised assessment as; “completing unfamiliar tasks, with unfamiliar people, in unfamiliar environments, with unfamiliar resources” is a definition I return to regularly.

The RBI is a great functional assessment. It is culturally competent, focuses on function (rather than impairment), collates data across a variety of settings and is sensitive enough to monitor change over time. Critically, it includes a caregiver report of observations of a child’s participation in their everyday activities, at home, at their education setting and in their community.

When the scope of an RBI is explained to a family, they are more likely to choose this approach. By gathering comprehensive information about the child's engagement, independence, and social relationships, an RBI provides a clear picture of their strengths and areas for development. It will give us the best quality goals to start working on together.

When we invest our time early in high quality authentic assessment, we can get to the most useful strategies for the individual child and family as quickly as possible.

2. It promotes partnership between family and practitioners

The RBI forms the foundation of a collaborative partnership between families and practitioners, recognising that all families, with the right support, can make good things happen for their children. Every single effective RBI that I have conducted or observed is littered with the interviewer highlighting the strengths of the child and family. 

There is explicit acknowledgement that every family is unique and that they are experts on their child.

Families say that they find the questions that we are asking easy to answer. I believe that this is because we are asking them to describe what they know best; their family and what they do every day. Many families have told me the RBI experience was the first time that someone had demonstrated that they cared for them too. It provides families with the authority to decide on specific goals that are meaningful, achievable, and functional for them so we can work together to achieve them.

I’ve been very grateful to the many people who supported me to feel confident and competent in my implementation of RBI. If you want to further develop your skills, Noah’s Ark is excited to announce the return of our popular 2-day in-person RBI Workshop to Melbourne, RBI Deepen, with new features and fresh content. This course offers the opportunity to observe a live RBI conducted by an experienced RBI Coach, and practice your interviewing skills. You'll learn how to provide evidence-based assessments that meet the needs of children and families.