When checked, Enable Assistance Rating activates an Independence Scoring Scale system* that tracks assistance at the task level. The data and type of assistance is tracked over time and can be used to monitor changes in levels of individual assistance.
To add this feature in Goal Guide:

1. Create a goal Category and add any desired team members at the category level.
2. Create a repeating Goal (goals must repeat in order to use this feature). At the bottom of the Goal Details section of the screen check the box for “Enable Assistance Rating”.
   Note: When checked, the Enable Independence Rating View box allows someone to see the independence ratings assigned to them. If you do not want a team member to see this information, leave this box unchecked.Important: In order to track levels of assistance, the repeating goal must have at least one sub task.
3. Once a goal is complete and one or more goal tasks is marked complete, click the View Progress button at the bottom of the View Progress screen or go to the Apps menu in Goal Guide and select Progress. Next, select the category and goal you want to rate.
   Note: By design, you can only add levels of assistance to members of a team and not your own account.
4. Highlight the team member you wish to rate and click Show Goal Tasks. Select an individual data point on the graph. You should notice a square bar graph icon appears next to each completed task.
5. Click on the square bar graph icon. A window displaying the Independence Scoring Scale system* pyramid will open. Click inside the pyramid on the level of assistance required for each task. Add detailed notes for each task as necessary. Click Done. The square bar graph icon will be replaced with a symbol or letter that matches the level of assistance on the Independence Scoring Scale system pyramid.
6. Repeat Step 5 for each task. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 for each date. Click Update.
7. To view the Assistance Ratings data, select the desired team member in the Goal Progress screen. Click the Assistance Ratings button.
8. Assistance values may be viewed and displayed as a line graph or a bar graph that is staked by assistance type (color coded to match the Independence Scoring Scale system pyramid).
9. Alternately, assistance rating data may be exported as an .xls (Microsoft Excel) file for one or members of a team. Any detailed notes will appear when data is downloaded to .xls.

* By default, Goal Guide uses the levels of assistance as defined in Systematic Instruction for Students with Moderate and Severe Disabilities by Belva C. Collins.

Julie Henning

Julie Henning has been with Cognitopia since 2015. In that time, she has been involved in customer support, training, marketing, documentation, social media, and data collection. Some of her favorite projects have been mentoring our videographer intern, Nate, and weekly classroom testing and curriculum development for the many students in the 4J Connections Transition program. She works closely with Eugene-based SLLEA (Smart Living, Learning & Earning with Autism) to integrate Cognitopia’s self-management tools into the organization and structure design input and support platform implementation. Professionally, Julie has over twenty years’ experience working in engineering, technology, software development, and journalism; a path made possible with two degrees in Technical Communication: a BS from the Milwaukee School of Engineering and a MS from Colorado State University. A single mom of three high schoolers (grades 9, 10, and 11), Julie has introduced Cognitopia to terms such as “sick” and “yeet,” while overseeing the office coffee consumption. In her free time, she enjoys playing recreational soccer, improv comedy, and traveling.