Portage Guide to Early

Education

Nazia Qayyum
 Introduction
• Portage project was first founded in 1969 by Bureau of Education for the handicapped (BEH).
• The curriculum was devised for use with children from birth to five years of age(extended to six years
age level).
• Objectives to devise this curriculum were
 Enhanced developmental approach to teaching
 Concern with several areas of development including cognitive, language, motor, social and self help
skills
 To provide a method of recording existing skills and recording skills learned in the intervention period.
 To provide suggestions on how new skills be taught
 Introduction
• Experimental edition was developed in three years and was published in 1972.
• A Survey was conducted in 1974 to follow-up this program, suggestions have been included.
• Translated in more than 30 languages
• PGEE is comprised of three zones
1. Check list of behaviors on which to record an individual child’s developmental program
2. A card file listing possible method of teaching these behavior
3. A manual of direction for the use of checklist and cares files as well as methods for
implementing activities
 Developmental areas in PGEE

Infant’s Stimulation (added in modification, because they are pre requisites to later
development in all areas)
Socialization
Language
Self Help
Cognitive
Motor
 Infant’s Stimulation
• The infant’s stimulation section provides the user with suggested activities and
material designed to elicit appropriate responses from the child. The infant requires
significant environmental input before a response can be expected. Therefore many
of these items are those behaviors, the parents and educators does with the children.
• The behavior listed in this section can serves as a guide for teaching infants between
0-4 months of age as well as older children who are functionally same.
• Example:
• 27: Maintains eye contact 3 seconds
• 41: laughs
 Socialization
• Socialization skills are those appropriate behaviors that involve living and
interacting with other people during preschool years. Social behavior is reflected
in the manner in which the child works and plays with parents, siblings and play
mates.
• These developmental capabilities affect both, the child’s skills acquisition in other
areas of development and ability to function appropriately within the environment.
• Example: (1-2 years)
• 41: plays with 2 or 3 friends
 Language
• The check list does not specify the vocabulary to be developed, it focuses
on the content of child’s speech and the form used to express the content.
There is no division of language skills into receptive and expressive
abilities, though both are included. Because of close relationship between
the language and cognitive abilities there is some overlap between the two
sections.
• Example (2-3 years)
• 31: uses word for bathroom need
 Self Help
• Self help category in concerned with those behaviors which enable the
child to care for himself in the areas of feeding dressing, bathing and
toileting.
• The ability to care for one also relates to the ability to see oneself as a
unique independent member of the family and community.
• Behavior described in this area follow sequential development patterns.
• Example :
• 11: holds and drinks from cup using two hands
 Cognitive
• Cognition and thinking is the ability to remember see or hear likeness and
differences and to determine relationships between ideas and things.
Cognition takes place inside the child there fore we can only measure in
terms of what the child says or does.
• Example: (2-3 years)
• 27: names 4 common pictures
 Motor
• Motor area is primarily concerned with the coordinated movements of large and small muscles
of body.
• Motor areas are crucial for two reasons
1. They provide mean expressing skills in the other developmental areas
2. They thought to be foundation of cognitive and language development
Helping the child develop and plan his movement allows more independence and freedom to move
without direction or supervision
Example: (5-6 years)
113: walks balance board forward, backward and sideways
 Directions for using Portage Guide

 0-6 years old (in general)

 Normal infants with minor variations
 Those at risk
 Developmentally delayed
 Identified handicapped children
 Older than 6 years old but behave like a child
 From Whom to get information
 Members of family (Nuclear or Extended)
 Nannies
 Teachers
 Use your own clinical judgment also

“Information must be validated or triangulated”

 USE OF CHECKLIST
PGEE is color Coded
• The original PGEE checklist is color
coded
1. Infant stimulation [light blue]
2. Socialization [dark blue]
3. Language [green]
4. Self-Help [yellow]
5. Cognitive [Gold]
6. Motor [Orange]
 Locating the base line
• Instructor start the test from a year behind, the child’s mental as 10 consecutive passes
(denoted as +) are required to continue assessment through checklist in each area.

LOCATING THE CEILING

• The instructor continues to assess the behavior until he/she reaches a point where the
child cannot perform any more of the items. If the child misses 10 to 15 items
(denoted as -) in a row, the assessment should be stopped in that area.
 Information log sheet
First page of checklist is known as information log sheet. The sheet is used to record additional information
about the child.
The child’s name and his date of birth can be entered on front cover because checklist can serve as ongoing
curriculum record for all pre school years.
It can be used as a record of health check up and diseases.

RECORD OF BEHAVIOUR
After completion of test instructor would record the behavior of child that he can perform currently and that he
has yet to learn.
In any area child would be able to perform certain number of skills. After this they will be unable to perform any
skills.
 Finding mental Age
Mental age can be found by using an IQ test on the child.

Following formulae can also be used to find mental age

total items – missed items x 12 = Mental Age
Total Scores
Calculate M.A for each year’s range (0-1yr,1-2yr etc.) included in a developmental area
(e.g. socialization, language etc.)
•
 Functional Level
• Chronological Age = 5 &1/2years
• Socialization
• 0-1=0
• 1-2=0
• 2-3=11 months
• 3-4= 7.5 months
• 4-5= 8months
• 5-6= 4.12moths
• =30.62 2 years, 8 months approx.
 Functional Level
• Lets Suppose Chronological Age= 5 ½ years
• Functional Level
• Socialization= 1year 8months
• Language= 2 years 8months
• Self-Help= 2years 8months
• Cognitive= 2 years 2 months
• Motor= 2 years 2 months
 USE OF CARD Files
Once a skill is chosen to be taught to a child the instructor refers
to the card for suggested methods.
The number of behavior on checklist corresponds with the
number of the card file
The developmental area and card number are listed in the upper
right hand corner of each card, the age level is also stated as well
as several teaching suggestions are then listed on each card.
 Behavior objectives
It is the behavior that you are attempting to teach a child. It tells what child WILL do to
demonstrate that given skill has been acquired and also what child WILL BE doing at the
end of specific teaching interval.
A teacher can indicate what a child is to do and how well he must do it.
A behavior objective is written in behavior term.
A behavior objective states a learner response and criterion e.g. objective is Sana would
point to red 5 times out of 5 trials.
EXAMPLES
Azan will drink from a cup with parent holding cup in 10 out of 10 trials.
Sara will put 1 peg in pegboard with verbal cues in 6 out of 6 trails.
 Composition of behavior objective
• Behavior objective has four components
Who will do Child
Will do what response expected from child once he has learned the skill
Under what conditions how much aid and what type of assistance was given
What degree of success how successfully child must perform to reach criteria
e.g. 5 out of 5 trials
 References

• Cole, D. (2013). The potage model approach [Power point slides]. Retrieved from

http://www.bibme.org/citation-guide/apa/lecture

• Vitto, N. L. (2013). Portage guide to early education [Power Point slides]. Retrieved

• from https://www.scribd.com/doc/296573021/Portage-Guide-to-Early-

• Education-Vitto-52-Slides