Assessment

Assessments are designed to determine the student's abilities and needs in relevant aspects of the curriculum and instruction. Educators need this essential tool to guide day-to-day instruction. The range of assessments may fluctuate from classroom assessment practices all the way to district and statewide assessment programs. Regular assessments provide valuable information on teaching effectiveness, and are the basis for informed instructional decisions.

An assessment is needed when evaluating students to gather the necessary information to develop appropriate educational programs. Curriculum-based assessments provide information about how the student is functioning in the basic academic areas. Additional formal assessments by a multidisciplinary team will be necessary to evaluate abilities and needs in communication, social development, play skills, sensory and motor development, self help/independent skills, self/behavioral regulation, and cognitive functioning. The Comprehensive Autism Assessment Planning Tool was developed to assist teams in determining areas of needs assessment for program planning.

All team members need to regularly monitor progress, using data collection tools individualized to the student's goals. Consistent data collection and progress monitoring provides the information needed to make informed instructional decisions. Students with ASDs often require frequent repetition to learn new skills. Accordingly, decisions about when to make instructional adjustments must be based on each student's knowledge and skills acquisition, as revealed through progress monitoring.