Objectives:
- Participants will become familiar with diagnostic criteria of ASD and Social Communication Pragmatic Disorder as described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – 5 (DSM-5) and an overview of state educational eligibility criteria for Autism.
- Participants will learn how to form teams and select instruments to include: cognitive and neuropsychological assessments; how to conduct qualitative observations; speech, language, and communication assessments; assessment of behavior including Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) and of adaptive behavior; review of records and interviews with parents, student and others.
- Participants will receive a overview of Autism specific instruments and when to conduct them during the evaluation process and a review of Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule – 2 (ADOS-2); Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) both considered to be “gold-standard” assessments for Autism as well as other commonly used autism assessments.
- Participants will also learn how to conduct differential diagnoses and how to consider co-morbid conditions that may also be present as part of the evaluation process.
- Participants will learn how to write a comprehensive report integrating findings from multiple sources and how form recommendations that are linked to interventions that are deemed to be evidenced-based and supported for use with students with ASD.
Participants: LSSPs, Educational Diagnosticians, SLPs, Behavior Specialists, Counselors, OTs, and other assessment personnel including staff serving students with AS
Length: 2 days
Resources: Essentials of Autism Spectrum Disorders Evaluation and Assessment by Saulnier, C.A. and Ventola, P.E. (2012). (from Wiley for 38.95). This would be a good book to purchase for all participants. – not necessary but I have found it to be a quick read and a useful resource.
Materials Required During Training
- ADOS-2 kit and DVD training kit from WPS
- ADI-R kit and DVD training kit from WPS
- CARS-2 kit from WPS