Assessment instruments used in the education and treatment of persons withautism: brief report of a survey of national service centers

Although assessment is a critical component in the education and treatment of persons who have autism, there is insufficient information about the typ es of assessment instruments that are used routinely by practitioners. This brief report describes a survey of national service centers to determine t heir use of standardized instruments and the purposes of their assessment p ractices. Data from centers representing 30 states revealed that (a) the nu mber of assessment instruments endorsed by centers increased as centers ado pted a "multidisciplinary" approach to education and treatment, (b) the lar gest proportion of instruments fell within intellectual, motor, and languag e/communication domains, and (c) instruments were used most frequently for diagnostic and curriculum design purposes. Agreement among practitioners on the selection of instruments occurred most frequently in the domains of pr ojective, adaptive behavior, and family assessment. The implications from t hese findings for assessment practices in autism are discussed. (C) 2001 El sevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.