Evidence-Based Assessment and Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Scoping Review
Evidence-Based Communication Assessment & Intervention
Santhanam, S., & Hewitt, L. E. (2015).
Evidence-Based Communication Assessment & Intervention, 9(4), 140-181.
This scoping review investigates instruments and procedures to assess the speech, language, or social communication skills in individuals on the autism spectrum.
Not stated
1995-2013
Experimental studies; qualitative studies; programmatic/descriptive reviews
54
"Formal testing for language abilities in [autism spectrum disorder] ASD is, by and large, supported in the literature, in that such testing has been shown to be at least feasible. For the majority of studies using formal testing, results showed that they were successfully administered and produced interpretable results"
"Caregiver report measures in several studies compared favorably with formal tests, therefore many scholars support their use to supplement direct testing in clinical environments, because they can serve as probes of naturally occurring communication behaviors" (p. 140).
"A few specific formal tests and language sampling procedures have been repeatedly investigated and found positive results regarding their appropriateness and utility in assessing this population. Even though full-range sampling ... falls short of providing truly autism-specific norms, many commercially available formal tests not designed for those on the spectrum have been investigated experimentally and thus may be said to have some evidence of validity for [autism spectrum disorder] ASD" (p. 175).
"Formal tests of widely varying design and purposes have some evidence of validity for [autism spectrum disorder] ASD is encouraging, indicating that procedures designed for the general population have the potential to be applied successfully to people with autism.... The literature provides some modest support for the cautious assertion that individuals on the spectrum may be successfully assessed with tests normed on the general population" (p. 175).
