Behavioral Rating Scales

The purpose of this study was to test two behavioral rating scales on young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and see the prospective and how they can help in an early childhood program. Preschool and Kindergarten children were participants and enrolled in Project DATA for the time of 1 year. There was a total of 22 participants, in which 20 were males, and 2 were females, 15 attended preschool and 7 attended kindergarten. There was three assessment instruments used in this study, the SSRS, PKBS and the AEPS. Two social skills measures are the SSRS and the PKBS. The Social Skills Rating Scale (SRSS) and the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavioral Scale (PKBS) “… test their psychometric properties of measuring social skills in children

Starting with terms used in class. The first term is assessment, the way that assessment was known in the study was that it was a sort of testing, which in this case was testing social skills in children with ADS. Assessment covered in class is a form of gathering information. An assessment system “is all systematic methods and procedures used to obtain information about students; basis for decisions.” This study was a behavioral assessment which we covered and it falls in formal assessment. We also covered in class the Emergence of Ability Tests: Testing in Cognitive Domain, where there is three areas: individual intelligence, neuropsychological assessment, and group tests of ability. This study was based on a Group Test of Ability, these tests are cheaper, and less time consuming as stated in the study “ Both SSRS and PKBS take less than 30 minutes to complete…” ( ) Moving to Ethical, Legal and Professional Issues in Assessment, there are 3 levels of competence and for the procedures of this assessment in the study level b and level c were needed. Level B are “tests that require knowledge of construction, use and appropriate advanced coursework in psychology and related courses” someone that is licensed. In level c, are “tests that require an advanced psychology degree or licensure and advanced training/supervised experience in the particular test”, someone who is a Psychologist or Psychiatrist. In this study the procedures addressed that “the school psychologist distributed the SSRS and the PKBS to the children’s classroom teachers.” “The rating scales were completed by the children’s classroom teachers, all of whom were females, Caucasian, and certified to teach special education children.” ( ) The release of the test data was only released to individuals who had the right to do so. Test worthiness was a big part of the study and the material that we’ve covered in class. There was 2 out of 4