Toward the use of a standardized assessment for young children with autism: current assessment practices in the UK

Little is known about the progress of autistic children following specific interventions in England. Nor do we know how frequently standardized assessments are used to monitor progress or to evaluate specific educational interventions. The reports of 75 children with autism, for whom special educational provision had been determined by a local education authority, were reviewed. Parents were interviewed and educational psychologists were contacted for details of any norm-referenced assessments. Of these children, 39 percent had no standardized assessments before education authorities determined their provision, and only 9 percent had follow-up assessments that could be used to evaluate progress. Children with autism in the UK rarely have sufficient assessments to allow an objective evaluation of their progress. There is currently no standardized assessment protocol to prescribe a specific educational intervention, to evaluate the progress of children or to make comparisons between interventions. We recommend the development of such a protocol.