Once concerns about a child/young person's social communication have been identified, more detailed assessment is likely to be needed to identify the specific areas of concern and potential barriers to learning.
It is always important to know a child or young persons’ strengths and interests as well as their difficulties to plan support that is strengths based and builds self-confidence.
Assessment over time is needed to monitor a pupil’s progress and the effectiveness of any interventions that have been put into place. The team around the child will include the child, parent carer, school' staff and may include external professionals at different stages to provide specialist advice, support and interventions.
The following factors are key to consider when in the assess phase of the graduated approach:
- It is important to involve parent carers from the beginning and to gain information about the child/young person’s interests, strengths and social communication needs within the home environment including what strategies parent carers have found useful and those they’ve found that don’t work.
- School Speech and Language/SEMH/AET Lead, and/or SENCO observations depending on presenting needs.
- Additional checklists may also be useful as information gathering tools to identify other areas of concern and to evaluate the environment. e.g. Sensory Checklist, camouflaging checklist, checklist for speech and language or autism friendly classroom.
- Regular sensory audits, which involve autistic students and which consider potential sensory challenges and identify how these will be managed in the classroom and larger school environment.
- Assessment needs to take into account the range of possible factors contributing to a young person’s social communication difficulties which will involve working closely with the family and other agencies involved (e.g. Social Care).
- Functional Behavioural Analysis as an approach to understanding behaviour.
- Use of STAR (Setting, Triggers, Action, Response) behaviour analysis charts (see the SISS Autism Toolkit).
- SISS Autism Team webpages give information which supports school staff to use the AET Progression framework resource which may be helpful.
- Additional specialist advice may need to be sought e.g. Specialist Inclusion Support Service (SISS) or a school may use a private provider, employ their own specialist. Assessment and advice may support understanding the child’s profile of strengths and needs and be able to offer further advice/ recommendations including whether any onward referrals would be appropriate.
- Solihull Educational Psychology Service (SEPS) assessment may support understanding of holistic needs of children and young people.
- Further specialist assessment may be requested from the Specialist Assessment Service if by following at least two Graduated Approach cycles, it is considered that a child’s learning profile could meet the criteria for a diagnosis of autism.