A review of assessments for determining the content of early intensive behavioral intervention programs for autism spectrum disorders

A large proportion of national education and treatment centers for persons with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), including those providing applied behavior analysis (ABA)-based services, show a relatively high percentage of agreement among practitioners on the instruments they routinely use for a variety of purposes, including curriculum design and treatment evaluation. In this paper, several assessments are reviewed and evaluated in terms of their utility for designing comprehensive early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) curriculum programs for children with ASD. The assessments found to be most useful for this purpose are reported. A general critique regarding the available pool of assessment tools is provided and the need for a comprehensive assessment directly linked to curricula is discussed.

Research highlights► Of the assessments reviewed, four (VB-MAPP, Brigance IED-II, VABS-II, and CIBS-R) were found to best meet specified criteria. ► None of the assessments reviewed were comprehensive enough to be used for designing a fully comprehensive EIBI curriculum for a child who has deficits across all developmental domains (social, motor, language, daily living, play, executive functions, social cognition, and academic skills). ► None of the assessments reviewed were linked directly to treatment recommendations.