Linn Benton Lincoln Education Service District
905 4th Avenue Southeast, Albany, Oregon 97321-3199
541-967-8822
Fax 541-926-6047

CASCADE REGIONAL AUTISM SERVICES

Student: Calvin Harris
Evaluation Date: 12/17/98
DOB: 2/22/96
Autism Specialist: Julie Christensen
School: Benton Co. Early Intervention & Kindercare
Speech/Language Pathologist: Mariann Jones
District: Benton Co. EIECSE
Teacher: Teresa Diaz & Denise Pfaff

Calvin is a 2.10 year old boy, who was referred to the Cascade Regional Autism Program for evaluation on 11/13/98 by Teresa Diaz, Benton Co. Early Intervention Service Coordinator. The areas of concern are language and social development. Calvin currently receives services at Benton Co. Early Intervention Toddler Group.

EVALUATION ACTIVITIES

Autism is a developmental disability affecting the processing, integration and organization of information. Autism typically impacts communication, social interaction, functional skills and educational performance. The following parts of the eligibility process were completed as a apart of this evaluation:

1.Behavioral Observations which identify characteristics seen across settings and times.

2. Developmental Profile which looks for characteristics in past and present development

3. Functional Communication Assessment which looks for characteristics in expressive, receptive and social communication.

4. Other Assessments which look for learning characteristics typical of children with autism. Portions of the Physical educational Profile Revised (PEP-R) on 12/17/98 by Julie Christensen.

EVALUATION RESULTS

To be eligible for Special Education in the area of autism, a child must:

1. Autism Characteristics

Characteristic

Observation

Interviews

File Review

Assessment

Relating    

 

 
Unusual peer/adult interactions

X

X

X

X

• Does not watch or notice peers.
• Pushes peers for no apparent reason.
• Prefers to play alone.
• Grabs toys from others.
• Will hit or push child that tries to take a toy.
• Will move away from physical contact with adults.
Unusual responses to dangerous situations

X

X

X

 
• Will bolt from environment with no concern for safety.
• Jumps from high places.
Limited play abilities

X

X

X

X

• Wants to have things his own way.
• Cannot take direction or instruction from adult.
• Likes to dump toys from buckets.
• Likes to throw toys in air.
• Seeks out certain toys.
Sensory    

 

 
Unusual oral stimulation

X

X (staff)

X

 
• Stuffs food in mouth.
• Mouths inedible objects.
• Drools at times.
• Sucks thumb continuously.
Unusual responses to auditory stimuli

X

X

 

X

• Does not respond to loud noise if involved in a preferred
activity.
• Does not respond to name if involved in a preferred activity.
Unusual repetitive movements

X

X

X

X

• Likes to watch objects drop/roll over and over.
• Runs around and around a pattern on the playground.
• Shakes head and crosses eyes.
• Stomps feet and flaps hands when walking.
Unusual tactile responses

X

 

X

 
• Fiddles with carpet nap.
• Makes sounds with mouth, moving tongue in an odd way.
• Wrings hands.
Development        
Splintered developmental skills

X

X 

X 

X 

• Can easily operate mechanical things (VCR and TV).
• Limited spontaneous expressive vocabulary.
• Can repeat phrases he has heard before (delayed echolalic).
• High organizational skills; can find and match video cases and tape, can replace toys in the same exact place that he found them, can follow routines that are predictable.
• Has difficulty following verbal directions.
Short attention span

X

X

X

 

• Difficulty sitting in large group activities.
• Flits from one activity to another.
• Will escape an activity if a demand is made.
• Easily distracted by visual information (sees something and
wants it now) -
Difficulty transitioning from one activity to another.

X

X

X

X

• Protests if he does not want to be done with preferred activity.
• Does not comply if adult directed activity.
• Does not respond to prompts to change activity.
Has little or no concept of time sequences.

X

X

X

X

• Has difficulty waiting for his turn.
• Difficulty understanding when he should be "done" with an activity.
Communication

 

 

 

 

Limited speech

X

X

X

X

• 1 - 2 word spontaneous speech.
• High use of jargon (3 - 6 syllables).
• High use of gestures and pointing to get needs met.
Limited communication function

X

X

X

X

• Misuses labels of objects.

 

 

 

 

• No awareness of communication breakdown.

 

 

 

 

Limited receptive language understanding.

X

X

X

X

• Follows 1 -step directions within familiar routine only.
• At times cannot answer yes/no questions.
Unusual speech characteristics.

X

X

 

X

• Has loud, raspy, tense quality to voice when communicating with others.
• Flat, monotone intonation when singing or initiating vocal play (imitating a fire engine siren).
 
Does not use joint referencing.

X

X

X

X

• Attention stays on an object with no regard to person.
• Looses interest if an object is not present.
• Difficulty establishing more than a fleeting interest in an adult directed/led activity.
• Fleeting eye contact with others.
• May want to interact, but does not follow through.

2. Learning Characteristics

• Calvin has difficulty attending to adult directed activities for any length of time. He wants to do things his own way and in his own time. This makes instruction difficult due to compliance issues.

• Calvin is very active and has difficulty sitting for any length of time. He will flit from one activity to another, not able to attend to verbal cues or prompts to help him get involved in an activity. He needs objects readily available to him to stay focused in a large group and attend to the speaker.

• Calvin is a visual learner. He needs visual cues (objects, toys, or pictures) and gestures to follow instruction or directions. He can be visually distracted by objects in the environment. He may see something and want to go to it immediately, distracting him from a task or transition. Calvin has unique mechanical abilities; he is able to operate and control a VCR and Play Station with ease. Calvin prefers to play alone, showing little interest in his peers and sometimes interacts inappropriately with them (pushing, hitting and grabbing toys from them). Calvin has limited speech abilities and is difficult to understand. He does not attempt to correct his verbalizations to help the listener to understand his message. He will resort to gestures, pointing, or leading to help get his needs met. Calvin has intent focus on activities that he prefers and will shut out other sensory information (auditory) when he is engaged in these activities.

3. Recommendations

• Calvin would benefit from a structured classroom enviromnent that supplies predictable routines and visual supports to help him attend to instruction.

• Calvin would benefit from direct instruction in a small group to help develop play skills. Calvin does try to interact at times, but will easily give up if he is not understood or given immediate reinforcement from the play partner. Direct modeling and practice in sharing, taking turns and creative play scenarios could help Calvin follow through on his interactions with other peers.

• Calvin would benefit from direct instruction to increase his functional language skills. Pairing direct prompting with immediate reinforcement for attending, verbal imitation and verbal attempts to request motivating items, could help Calvin develop relationships with language and behavior.

Julie Cristensen
Autism Specialist
Cascade Regional Services

Mariann Jones
Speech-Language Pathologist
Benton Co. Early Intervention

Please note: Cascade Regional Services will keep and maintain an educational record to assist with planning and program development for your child. The record will be retained for five years after the end of your child's participation in the regional program. After five years, if there is no outstanding parent request, the educational records will be destroyed.