Autism Module
Autism Internet Module: Assessment for Identification
Drexel University: EDUC 551
The module for assessment for identification and intervention for children with autism incorporated a great deal of information on how to evaluate and identify students with ASD. When taking the post-assessment, I missed one question about why children with autism tend to be diagnosed earlier than students with Asperger’s. Even though this was the only question I had incorrect I was still unsure about a couple of the questions and was eager to learn more about the assessment process.
Early intervention makes a significant difference in the progress that a child with ASD can make. This fact has been repeated in most of the materials that we have watched and read throughout the course. These children can accomplish so much more in the long run if we start working with them at an early age. One new thing I learned about early identification is that African-Americans are identified later and often are misdiagnosed and that some evaluators are hesitant to give a diagnosis. I had previously read that autism effected children regardless of race, ethnicity or gender. When I read this fact I was shocked that they are often given an alternate diagnosis before autism. I would like to learn more about why this occurs in the African-American population. As an educator, I also agree to the feeling of misdiagnosing a child. The fear of giving a wrong identification or giving a label to someone is a heavy burden. If anything should be taken away from this module it is that a interdisciplinary team should work together to identify a child with ASD. If we work together and collaborate with different team members we are more likely to come up with a correct diagnosis.
Another important point I learned from the video is that there is no such thing as a medical diagnosis for ASD. I was under the assumption that if they were diagnosed in the private sector by
Drexel University: EDUC 551
The module for assessment for identification and intervention for children with autism incorporated a great deal of information on how to evaluate and identify students with ASD. When taking the post-assessment, I missed one question about why children with autism tend to be diagnosed earlier than students with Asperger’s. Even though this was the only question I had incorrect I was still unsure about a couple of the questions and was eager to learn more about the assessment process.
Early intervention makes a significant difference in the progress that a child with ASD can make. This fact has been repeated in most of the materials that we have watched and read throughout the course. These children can accomplish so much more in the long run if we start working with them at an early age. One new thing I learned about early identification is that African-Americans are identified later and often are misdiagnosed and that some evaluators are hesitant to give a diagnosis. I had previously read that autism effected children regardless of race, ethnicity or gender. When I read this fact I was shocked that they are often given an alternate diagnosis before autism. I would like to learn more about why this occurs in the African-American population. As an educator, I also agree to the feeling of misdiagnosing a child. The fear of giving a wrong identification or giving a label to someone is a heavy burden. If anything should be taken away from this module it is that a interdisciplinary team should work together to identify a child with ASD. If we work together and collaborate with different team members we are more likely to come up with a correct diagnosis.
Another important point I learned from the video is that there is no such thing as a medical diagnosis for ASD. I was under the assumption that if they were diagnosed in the private sector by
References: Aspy, R., & Grossman, B. (2008). Assessment for identification: Online training module (Plano, TX: The Ziggurat Group). In Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence (OCALI), Autism Internet Modules, www.autisminternetmodules.org. Columbus, OH: OCALI.