Meeting the needs of a learner with an autism spectrum disorder requires specialized expertise. Assessing the extent to which a potential program or classroom meets a child's needs is a source of serious challenge for parents and professionals alike. Indeed, identifying, prioritizing and agreeing upon the child's needs are complex questions for…

Given a rising prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), this project aimed to develop and pilot test various teacher nomination strategies to identify children at risk for ASD in a timely, reliable, cost-effective manner. Sixty participating elementary school teachers evaluated 1323 children in total. Each teacher nominated students who most…

Analysis of scores of 537 autistic children on the Childhood Autism Rating Scale is presented and the administration, composition, and scoring of the scale are discussed. Findings noted include the scale's ability to distinguish two groups of autistic Ss from other developmentally disabled Ss. (CL)

A study of 684 individuals yielded special population norms on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales for individuals with autism for mute children under 10, children with some verbal skills under 10, mute individuals who are 10 or older, and individuals with some verbal skills who are 10 or older. (Author/CR)

A study of six children (ages 3-9) with autism assessed whether manipulation of variables related to motivation and attention in children with autism would influence performance on standardized tests. Results found the children showed higher scores when conditions were modified to improve the likelihood of responding to test stimuli. (Author/CR)

A French study of 136 children (ages 20-139 months) with developmental disabilities investigated the reliability and validity of the Revised Behavior Summarized Evaluation Scale (BSE-R) in evaluating autistic behavior in children with developmental delays. The BSE-R was found to be useful for progressive recording of the evolution of patients…

The Behavior Summarized Evaluation (BSE) measures changes in behavioral parameters in autistic children over time and treatments. Tests of reliability and validity suggest that the BSE is an acceptable tool for the assessment of autistic behaviors, is easy to handle, and is accessible to both professional and paraprofessional medicoeducative…

This study compared the ongoing levels of naturally occurring behavior in 32 typical preschool-aged children and 32 children with autism. Results are discussed in terms of implications for establishing early social intervention goals for children with autism. It concludes that key peer-related behaviors must be assessed across time and activities…