Autism Diagnostics PEP-3

The PEP-3 Autism Diagnostics provides an assessment of a set of unevenly presented strengths and learning weaknesses of the child characteristic of ASD and related developmental disabilities. Provides a measure of skill development and provides information for making a diagnosis and determining the severity of the disability. It is consists of stimulus material for diagnosing the child and an optional questionnaire for parents/guardians.

The tests are conducted by certified professionals at the Brain Stimulation Center. Testing will allow a comprehensive assessment of the child's weaknesses and strengths in terms of learning opportunities and the development of an effective individual correctional program.

To diagnose autism (ASD) and other disorders, specialists at the centre use multiple methods, such as Ados, CASD, ADI-r, Leiter-3, Conners-3, WISC-IV, ADOS-2. In this article, we will talk about the advantages of the PEP-3 technique. Given the impressive list of impairments of varying degrees of severity united by the term ASD, the psychoeducational profile (or PEP) according to the TEACHS methodology is successfully used in the planning of individual educational programs for children.

Who does need the PEP-3 methodology and why?

The TEACHS Psychoeducational Profile is designed to examine children with autism spectrum disorders to provide a differentiated assessment of the child's learning abilities. In a child with ASD, the development of mental functions is uneven. This important practical point is taken into account by the PEP-3 methodology. The psychoeducational profile allows you to more accurately determine the level of skill development, which provides important information on the severity of the disability to make the correct diagnosis.

In addition, the autism test using this technique allows you to:

• assess the child's level of adaptation; 
• analyze the effectiveness of learning;
• determine the success of pedagogical and clinical interventions.

The PEP-3 can be used not only for diagnosis. The ТЕАССН program is a practical way to track changes in a child's educational profile over some time, as well as the dynamics of maladaptive behaviours.

The complex of signs can be more or less, of varying degrees of severity. An autism spectrum disorder test can help make sense of it.

As a rule, ASD manifests itself in the first 5 years and persist into adulthood, significantly complicating life. The development of individual educational programs, competent correction and adaptation can smooth out the situation. And this requires a complete diagnosis (possible with the use of the PEP-3 test), which helps to determine the potential of a child with ASD.

ASD is not emotional. These are neurobiological disorders, which can be accompanied by mental retardation, epilepsy, and depression.

PEP-3 testing: what is included and how it is done

The psycho-educational profile of the PEP was developed based on the works of Professor E. Schopler. In the CSM clinic, specialists are guided by the current version - the revised edition of 2004 (the third version). The collection of information and assessment of individual characteristics on the PEP-3 is done based on the results of completed tests and interviews with the child's representatives.

There are 172 tasks developed that include the usual simple activities for preschool children (colour a picture, feed a toy). However, each such activity is used to assess several parameters at once. There are 10 blocks in all. Six of them are designed to establish the age level of development of the child and reveal the degree of mastery of skills and knowledge. Another four are the assessment of maladaptive forms of behaviour.

The parent (or caregiver) questionnaire consists of two clinical sections with questions and three subtests about behavioural, self-care, and adaptation problems of the child.

Results and Their Usage

As a result of PEP-3 diagnostics, a child is more accurately identified as belonging to one of the ASD groups. This achieves the main goals of the PEP-3 in the examination of children with autism. The PEP-3 diagnostic methodology developed for professionals and teachers allows the use of structured programs for teaching children with ASD based on the child's strengths, motor and communication skills, visual information processing, assessment of learning ability, verbal and nonverbal intelligence development. Thanks to these programs, it is proven that successful learning of children with ASD is also possible in mainstream schools.

PEP-3 Advantages and Testing at the Center for Brain Stimulation

The PEP-3 is an important complementary tool to autism screening methods such as clinical interview, early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders, CASD child autism test, other psychodiagnostic methods and autism screening techniques. The main advantages of the method are:

• contains concrete materials that are interesting even for children with severe disabilities;
• allows all subjects to obtain successful results;
• contains conversational tasks that are separate from other functional areas, allowing virtually all children with autism to be tested and taught;
• integrates the latest research data on autism, which is essential for making diagnostic recommendations and prescriptions for planning effective individual behavioural intervention and developing educational programs;
• сcontains comparative data on a group of children with autism spectrum disorders and whose development corresponds to the norm (the only test that contains such data so far);
• allows for a high degree of reliability in clinically assessing a child's abilities;
• provides flexibility in the psychoeducational assessment scheme for children with autism spectrum disorders;
• eliminates time constraints (breaks of an hour, a day);
• implies division according to developmental levels;
• includes a large number of non-verbal tasks;
• offers a presentation of material that is interesting even for children with severe disabilities.

The specialists at our centre can perform PEP-3 testing on almost all children with ASD. A comfortable environment and an experienced psychologist (child psychiatrist) are a guarantee of accurate test results for autism in children and their correct interpretation in the form of descriptive and graphical data, as well as on seven assessment scales.

Doctors

PEP-3 autism diagnosis and other help for children with ASD is provided by certified psychologists at the Brain Stimulation Center. To make an appointment for a consultation with a specialist and to take the PEP-3 test, just call the phone number listed above, and our call centre will answer all your questions and make an appointment at a convenient time for you.