Part One - Autism Assessment Instruments

Within the first few minutes of this video, they clarified the fact that educators do not diagnosis.  I think this is very important for people especially parents to note who might not be familiar with the specific disability that their child is suspected of having.  It is interesting that this focuses on California Code of Regulations for me personally.  I have a cousin in California who has a child who is suspected of having autism; they called me and asked me to send them any and all information or reference sources that I could and my first question to them was did you receive a diagnosis.  My cousin’s answer was well yeah; during her team meeting the school diagnosed her.  I feel the first few minutes of this video are so important for parents to watch because I had to explain that only a licensed and trained medical professional could diagnosis, but that the school district was evaluating her for services (not a diagnosis).  Also it is important for parents to note that a medical diagnosis is not necessary to receive special education services.

The Gold Standards of Assessment have seven key elements: an inter-disciplinary process; structured and naturalistic observational methods; use of measures with solid validity and reliability data; conducted by educational specialists knowledgeable in ASD who have training; address all areas of suspected disability; identifies unique needs of the child; and is inclusive of parents.  Involving the parents is of utmost importance – it helps to build trust between the educators and the parents and it helps each party value each others input or perspective.  The methods for implementing Gold Standard Assessments include: set up a team – BCBA, SLP, parent, psychologist, etc.  Assessments that are needed include a behavior assessment, sensory and motor issues, adaptive behaviors, communication, pre-academic and academic areas, socialization, cognitive functioning, executive functioning, and health and development.  Good assessments include natural observations across multiple settings with multiple observers, structured observations, standardized/objective developmental measures, parent interview, use rating scales; as behavior analysts, these are things that we do when we are completing a functional behavior assessment.  Direct observation en vivo, separate observations where we are trying to elicit the target or problem behavior, and FBA interview forms for the people involved in the student’s lives. 

I found the specific behaviors to be elicited during structured observations interesting and relevant because these aren’t things that we as behavior analysts are used to doing – a few weeks ago I was doing an FA on a student and the behavior that I was looking for was aggression not anything listed here.  Specific behaviors include reciprocal turn taking, pretend play, social reciprocity, imitation of novel acts, ability to be directed by examiners, use of toys/objects, functional use of communication, and use of language or nonverbal behaviors to engage others.  These are things that I haven’t personally used – by the time students get to my school (a substantially separate residential treatment facility)  these initial assessments have already been completed and I am basically just confirming what the reports already said when I am doing my own assessments. 

I do agree that the evaluator is important; I don’t think that if you put someone who was inexperienced at assessing ASD in an assessment situation that they would know what to look for or how to adapt the assessment tool to fit their needs, or that they would know what they were looking for with regards to direct observations.