This Perspectives activity focuses on the assessment and treatment of school age students with social language deficits. The first article defines three different conversational profiles for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)and discusses intervention strategies appropriate for students within each of the profiles. The second article analyzes the benefit of using analog tasks (i.e., tasks that represent real-life social tasks) with toddlers through adolescents to evaluate social communication abilities and guide intervention. The third article aims to provide support for best practices in assessing students with social communication deficits, as determined by results of a survey of speech-language pathologists’ current methods and approaches. The final article examines how effective commercially available standardized tests are for evaluating the social and pragmatic language deficits of students with social pragmatic communication disorder within and separate from ASD.

Learning Outcomes
You will be able to:

• identify the benefits and key elements of peer mediated intervention for improving the conversation skills of students with autism spectrum disorders.
• demonstrate how to use analog tasks to assess and treat students of all ages with social communication deficits.
• describe and implement best practices to assess students with social communication disorders (SCDs) and the challenges associated with assessing students with SCDs.
• select a pragmatic language and social communication test that is appropriate for students on speech-language pathologists’ caseload.

Assessment Type
Self-assessment—Think about what you learned and report on the Completion Form how you will use your new knowledge.

Articles in This Course

1. Linking Peer-Mediated Interventions to Address Conversational Difficulties in Adolescents With Autism by Linda M. Bambara, Christine L. Cole, and Amanda Thomas SIG 1, Volume 6, Issue 1
2. Using Analog Tasks to Assess Children’s Social Communication Skills by Kathryn J. Greenslade, published in SIG 1, Volume 6, Issue 1
3. A Survey of Speech-Language Pathologists’ Approaches to Assessing Social Communication Disorders in Children by Kristen Izaryk, Robin Edge, and Dawn Lechwar, published in SIG 1, Volume 6, Issue 1
4. Pragmatic Language and Social Communication Tests for Students Aged 8–18 Years: A Review of Test Accuracy by Geralyn R. Timler and Megan Alano Covey, published in SIG 1, Volume 6, Issue 1