New Zealand Autism Spectrum Disorder Guideline - Ministry of Health

Part 3: Education for learners with ASD
• behaviour and cooperation in structured
settings
• memory and attention skills
• motivation
• determination
because of age or other reasons. Different tests
produce different results and apparent changes
in IQ may be due to test selection rather than
real changes 25 127 250 . Also, some apparent changes
may reflect an increase in compliance rather than
a true change in cognitive ability 11 .
Part 3
• perseverative or repetitive behaviour
• resistance to change.
It is important to note that most of these
aspects can also be recorded through focused
observations of children tackling tasks in a
variety of natural settings and not just in test
situations 11 .
Suggestions for assessment tools
IQ tests, if used, should be one of a number of
measures and a language assessment should
always be included to establish whether some
difficulties might be due to difficulties in following
instructions 245 (Recommendation 3.2.4.1). Test results
may also be affected by mood, compliance and
motivation. Adaptive behaviour may be a more
robust predictor of some areas of development in
young children 96 . A parental interview may be an
effective way to establish a profile of the young
child’s strengths and weaknesses. A parental
report, however, may overestimate abilities but
these can be confirmed with direct observation.
Observations should be made in both structured
and unstructured settings 11 .
Tests and other cognitive assessments should
be administered by a psychologist with
experience and training in ASD (Recommendation
3.2.4.1). The setting needs to be chosen with
particular care 11 and extreme care is required
when interpreting test scores, particularly with
younger children 212 245 .
IQ tests should not be considered the primary
measure of outcome for interventions because
there are very complex implications for test
selection in this population across ages and
developmental levels 96 . When IQ scores are used
as outcome measures for interventions, there
can be considerable difficulty if the pre-test
instrument is no longer appropriate at post-test
Evaluation of academic skills is very important
for planning goals for children who are
participating in academic activities 96 .
Teaching strategies
Children with ASD have diverse and distinctive
patterns of development, both as a group and
as individuals. An emphasis on thinking skills,
concepts, strategies, problem solving and
other broad skills will have an effect across all
academic areas. The content and sequence need
to be decided on the basis of the child or young
person’s interest and progress.
The following suggestions have been identified
to support their learning.
1. Make use of relative strengths
Many children may have relative strengths
that can be used in teaching and learning to
compensate for the areas in which they have
particular difficulty, for example:
• strong visual-spatial skills, which can lead to
literacy as a means of communication
• non-verbal problem solving skills, which
can be used to structure tasks in a way that
motivates a child
• auditory memory which can be a strength
that may lead to a child developing socially
appropriate phrases for specific situations
• strong visual memory of some students that
can be used to teach skills such as spelling 96
(Recommendation 3.2.4.2).
2. Make use of children and young people’s
interests
Children with ASD can often show relatively
complex skills and knowledge in an area of their
interest, sometimes called ‘splinter skills’, but
show no similar ability in areas that are being
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New Zealand Autism Spectrum Disorder Guideline