Autism Spectrum Disorder
Eligibility Criteria
Eligibility criteria for Autism
Spectrum Disorder is based on the Autism profile described by the American
Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic Statistic Manual of Mental
disorders. This includes a significantly adverse impact on the child’s
verbal, nonverbal, or pragmatic communication and social interaction skills,
and therefore educational performance, as well. Other behavioral
characteristics that indicate a presence of autism include engagement in
repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental
change and/or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory
experiences. However, a child does not meet eligibility requirements for Autism
if the student’s educational performance is primarily affected by emotional
disability, blindness or low vision, deaf-blindness, or a cognitive disability.
Eligibility Critique
As this eligibility considers the
child’s pragmatic, verbal, and even non-verbal performance, this appears to be
reasonable criteria for eligibility that would hopefully lead to literacy and
language support. However, the nature of services to be provided based on
eligibility is ultimately the deciding factor on whether the literacy and
language needs of a child with autism will be sufficiently met. In addition to
offering social and functional communication and language support, it will be
important to also offer a child with autism, no matter how low-functioning they
may be, rich literacy opportunities to foster the highest level of academic
achievement possible.
Are you suggesting that children with the disability designation of ASD (regardless of how cognitively impaired) require specialized instruction (!) this is a good point and important to remember as you go into the schools because many children have ASD like characteristics but cognitively low - and often teachers will say "too low to have Autism" but I think there are advantages to having this disability designation because it may grant access to teachers and specialists who have more experience and methods to provide quality education ....
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