Identifying, Assessing, and Treating Autism at School

Developmental Psychopathology at School

by Stephen E. Brock, Shane R. Jimerson, Robin L. Hansen

As the rate of autism diagnosis continues to escalate, awareness and recognition of this developmental brain disorder – as well as a demand for services – are also mushrooming. School districts, already struggling under the weight of withering budgets and increasing enrollments, are now scrambling to strike a balance between the types of services and treatments parents want for their children and what the school system can afford to provide. Consequently, a broad cross-section of professionals and parents are searching for the means and methods by which to identify and address the wide-ranging educational needs of the children with autism spectrum disorder.

Identifying, Assessing, and Treating Autism at School provides a one-stop resource that enables school psychologists to coordinate efforts between students and parents as well as other educators, administrators, and social services providers to determine which interventions are likely to be most effective in meeting the unique needs of children with autism. This volume, designed as a practical, easy-to-use reference for school psychologists and other educational professionals:

Makes the case for why school psychologists and their colleagues need to be more prepared, willing, and able to identify and serve students with autism.

Identifies the causes, prevalence, and associated conditions of autism spectrum disorders.

Provides a review of screening, referral, and diagnostic assessment processes.

Offers much-needed guidance on conducting psychoeducational assessments.

Reviews appropriate treatments for students with autism.

School psychologists, general and special educators, counselors, and social workers will find Identifying, Assessing, and Treating Autism at School an invaluable resource.

“This book is an invaluable resource not only for school psychologists but for other professionals and parents as well. It provides an excellent overview of the assessment and treatment of autism and related disorders and outlines with impressive clarity the interventions that can be provided for students with autism in schools. I am certain that this book will be read and reread for the wealth of information it presents.”
-Robert B. Brooks, Harvard Medical School, Coauthor of Raising Resilient Children

136 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2006

About the author

Dr. Stephen E. Brock is a Professor and the School Psychology Program Coordinator in the College of Education at California State University, Sacramento (CSUS). His professional preparation includes undergraduate and graduate degrees in psychology, and a PhD in Education (with an emphasis in psychological studies) at the University of California, Davis. He was selected by the College of Education to receive the 2012-2013 Outstanding Scholarly and Creative Activities Award, and the 2017 Juliana Raskauskas Legacy Lecture Award.
A Nationally Certified School Psychologists (NCSP) and Licensed Educational Psychologist (LEP), Dr. Brock worked for 18 years as a school psychologist with the Lodi (CA) Unified School District (the last 6 of which included assignment as Lead Psychologist) before joining the CSUS faculty. As a school psychologist he served multiple elementary and middle schools, helped to develop the district’s school crisis response protocol, served on an autism specialty team, and specialized in functional behavioral assessment.
A member of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) since 1985, Dr. Brock currently serves as a Contributing Editor to the Communiqué (the NASP news-paper), is on the Editorial Advisory Board of the School Psychology Review, is a member of the School Safety and Crisis Response Committee, and is Chair of the Elections Committee.
Dr. Brock is the lead editor of the NASP publication Best Practices in School Crisis Prevention and Intervention (2nd ed.), lead author of School Crisis Prevention and Intervention: The PREPaRE Model (2nd ed.), and author of the PREPaRE Crisis Intervention and Recovery workshop.
At the state level, Dr. Brock is a past president of the California Association of School Psychologists (CASP). In 1997 he received CASP’s Outstanding School Psychologist award, and in 2012 he received CASP’s highest award; the Sandra Goff Memorial Award.
Dr. Brock’s academic work has included study of school-based crisis intervention; system level school crisis response; suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention; ADHD; functional behavioral assessment; violence prevention; threat assessment and management; reading; and autism.

Reviews

[Lee Wilkinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Identifying, Assessing, and Treating Autism at School” offers the school-based professional a general guide to assessment and intervention for children with autism spectrum disorders. The book's chapters include a discussion of etiology, prevalence, screening, identification and assessment, and treatment. Tables, figures, and graphs add to the readability of the text. The authors outline a process for diagnosis and provide examples of screening and assessment instruments. The chapters on psychoeducational assessment and treatment (interventions) will be of interest to school psychologists. The appendix lists a number of autism resources. Overall, this text provides a basic and general introduction to working with school-age children with autism spectrum disorders. The content would have been strengthened by including case vignettes to illustrate the specific application of screening, assessment and intervention procedures.