Go the extra mile with nonverbal students - article by John Zbornik

Tips for assessing low-functioning/children with autism

John Zbornik, school psychologist for the Lakewood City (Ohio) Public Schools, and his colleague Dorothy Zelvis, speech language pathologist at LCPS, offer the ideas below to give you some direction concerning the areas they feel are critical in the assessment of low-functioning children with autism. While it's important to cover these areas, they believe the key is taking a diagnostic/developmental approach as early as possible in the child's education to ensure the best outcomes for treatment. This includes involving parents, teachers and other caregivers in the assessment process and making sure students are observed in a variety of environments on more than one occasion.

Team approach/multidisciplinary

• Understand the importance of family involvement,.
• Make sure you use family-friendly language.
• Conduct interviews with family and caregivers and have them use rating scales.

Purposes for assessment

• Differential diagnosis.
• Eligibility for services.
• Treatment options/special education services, family support.
• IEP/IFSP development.
• Baseline for measurement, progress and effectiveness of treatment.
• Examine strengths and needs.

Areas to be assessed
Caution: Look at the whole child. IQ scores may be misleading; look at uneven skills, limited language, level of participation in assessment process, sensory issues.

History

• Health status.
• Cognitive skills.

Behavior

• Resistance to change.
• Ritualistic behavior.
• Abnormal interests.
• Unusual responses to sensory experiences.
• Social skill development.
• Educational assessment.
• Adaptive/self-help.
• Sensory issues: Fine/gross motor skills, perceptual issues; hearing.

Communication skills

• Rather than simply conducting a speech language evaluation, use the tests to investigate:
• By what means is this child able to communicate thoughts and needs?
• Which communicative functions does the child have and which need to be developed?
• How does the child use communication to interact with others?
• Is there a discrepancy between the child's understanding of language and his ability to express language?

Assess

• Hearing status.
• Communication history.
  • Look at developmental milestones and progress.
  • Nonspeech tests (receptive expressive scores) offer baseline information and goals.

Communicative functions/skills

• Verbal and nonverbal skill development.
• Social behaviors.
• Imitation skills.
• Shared attention.
• Sustained attention.
• Short/long-term memory.
• Response to social rules.
• Understanding of cause/effect.
• Reciprocity.
• Nonverbal communication strategies.
  • Behavior patterns.
  • Typical/atypical behaviors, i.e., presence/absence (e.g., eye gaze, facial expressions, echolalia, pointing, gesturing, perseveration, general communicative intent).
• Functional use of spoken language.

Consider assessment environments and the child's interests

• Home/caretakers.
• Individual activity.
• Structured vs. unstructured play activities.
• Group activity.
• Motivators/reinforcers which improve participation.

Use assessment to develop plan for intervention:

• Need for assistive technology.
• Environmental needs.
• Assist with behavior plan.

This article appeared in Today's School Psychologist, August 2002 (Volume 6, Issue 1).
©2002 LRP Publications. Reproduced with permission.

Go the extra mile with nonverbal students - article by John Zbornik