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01 Apr 2011 12:44 PM
Monarch Media Center
Title Author
Call Number
Resource Type: Test Kits
Assessment of Basic Language and Learning
Skills - ABLLS-R : Scoring Instructions and
IEP Development Guide version 3.0
Registration Number 304944
Partington, James W.
793 .860 PAR
From http://www.behavior-consultant.com:
The ABLLS-R is a device for assessing skills in children with language and learning deficits and is most
commonly used in the process of the development of a behavioral program for children in the autism spectrum.
ABLLS-R stands for Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills - Revised. The ABLLS-R has many
advantages in guiding the development of a program for a child with language deficits because it is an
assessment, curriculum guide, and skills tracking system. The ABLLS-R contains a task analysis of the many
skills necessary to communicate successfully and to learn from everyday experiences.
At core the task analyses of the ABLLS-R are fundamentally guided by a behavior analytic perspective on all
aspects of human behavior, principally language. Skinner's book VERBAL BEHAVIOR. and the subsequent
research literature building on that work, is one of the principal sources for the structure and assumptions of the
ABLLS-R. Understanding technical aspects of behavior analysis and Skinner's Verbal Behavior are important to a
robust understanding of the ABLLS-R. The ABLLS-R provides both parents and professionals with
criterion-referenced information regarding a child’s current skills, and provides a curriculum that can serve as a
basis for the selection of educational objectives. It is not a diagnostic device; it does not compare the child to
norms or the performance of other children. The ABLLS-R looks at fundamental skills in a hierarchical sense and
breaks them down into their essential components in order to facilitate the development of laser-like interventions
designed to build on abilities already possessed by the child in order to increase their skills repertoire.
The ABLLS-R has examines 25 categories of behavior across a wide range of skills sets. Skills measured range
from essential abilities like orienting on people and objects to complex skills like talking about pleasant things that
are not immediately present (i.e., "How was your day?"). The largest subcategory of skills examined are language
with the categories defined by function of language and not by traditional abstract categorization. While the
literature is crystal clear that increases in communication skills can indirectly result in decreases in dysfunctional
behaviors, the ABLLS-R is not meant to directly address inappropriate behaviors or dysfunctional behaviors as is
done through a Functional Behavioral Assessment and the subsequent Behavior Intervention Plan. The overall
goal of the ABLLS-R is to refine the level of examination of skills so that teaching can occur in increments that are
manageable and likely to result in meaningful, and permanent, gains for the child. Therefore, each of the skills is
clearly operationally defined with measurable increments identified. The hierarchical nature of the ABLLS-R
means that, generally, earlier skills within each category are necessary for the independent and sustained
demonstration by the child of skills later in the hierarchy. This has a practical impact on the use of the ABLLS-R in
that gaps in skills that occur earlier in each category typically are given higher priority in the writing of initial goals
for the child's treatment program.
In general, behaviorists agree that direct observation of skills is the gold standard for measuring the ability of a
person. That standard applies, again generally, to the use of the ABLLS-R. The main mechanism for collection of
skills data for completion of the ABLLS-R should be direct observation by the evaluator of the child demonstrating
the skills in question. However, there are a variety of life circumstances that can prevent direct observation of the
full range of skills assessed via the ABLLS-R. Therefore, interview of key caregivers is an alternative and
complimentary process that can be used to complete areas of the ABLLS-R which might be inaccessible for
logistical reasons to the examiner. The overall goal of the ABLLS-R, as any device, is the accurate summarization
of the child's skills in order to facilitate as accurate and meaningful a treatment program as possible. The
recommendation by the authors, and one that I endorse for functional reasons, is that when in doubt about the
mastery of a skill by the child the examiner should under-estimate the skill in question. This may result in
attempts to teach skills that the child already possesses, fine. What it does not do is stress the child
unnecessarily by pressing them to demonstrate skills they do not possess thereby potentially creating an aversive
situation for the child that can negatively impact subsequent therapy.
The end result of the ABLLS-R assessment, which can take 10-12-14 hours, should be a set of recommendations
that fit the child like a finely tailored suit of clothes. In addition to its utility as a treatment planning guide, the
ABLLS-R is also a program monitoring device. Because the ABLLS-R is not a traditionally normed device, and
because we actually do want the child to learn the skills involve - however they learn them, repeating the
ABLLS-R within less than one year is both appropriate and expected. Typically, devices like the IQ tests (e.g.,
WISC, DAS, etc.) can not be repeated in less than a year because of the potential for the student to have
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