Languagecommunication Assessment

Language/communication Assessment

The Social Responsive Scale (SRS) refers to an assessment tool for measuring the continuum of autism symptom severity. It was originally conceived of as a language assessment for children and adults with autism or Asperger Syndrome, but the tool has now been adapted for various other purposes. In social groups, people communicate using tone of voice and body language to convey messages. The Social Responsive Scale (SRS) is a standardized test that assesses interpersonal communication skills in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) (Chan et al., 2017). The scale provides quantitative information about functional impairments in areas such as verbal communication and play skills. The scale is used by parents, psychologists, teachers, occupational therapists and others to track behavior throughout different stages of life.

The SRS has had numerous evaluations done on its efficacy in different settings. The SRS has become an extremely popular tool in the field of autism research and therapy. Its uses include: diagnosis and identification of ASD; measuring social skills; assessing the severity and functional level of autism; determining the best environment for a child with AS or ASD; and providing a standardized measure of progress in intervention. The SRS was also used as a tool to assess Asperger Syndrome in children with no history of autism. The results indicated an 87% average reduction in social communication problems following treatment. Furthermore, follow-up assessment at 26 months showed that the children’s scores on the SRS had risen to the same levels found for typically developing children (Chan et al., 2017).

In recent times, the SRS has been used as part of a new diagnostic criteria for ASD called the DSM-V. The SRS has also been adapted for use with adults with ASD; this measure is referred to as the Adult-SRS. The original Social Responsiveness Scale, or SRS, is a parent interview composed of two parts: an observation scale and an interview scale. The observation scale requires parents to report on their child’s social skills by means of specific questions pertaining to different settings. The second part consists of open-ended questions that pertain to specific behaviors that parents notice in their child’s everyday interactions with siblings and peers as well as adults.

The main pros of The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) are that it is a well-organized assessment, and it is easy to use. A possible disadvantage of this assessment is that it does not measure self-awareness, and it does not assess what a person is like in their natural environment. Another disadvantage is that it assumes that the assessment will be administered in one sitting, which may not be ideal for some students. Though this may seem like a minor issue, there are other issues that I would consider as drawbacks such as availability of software/hardware needed to administer the assessment (which is provided), and ease of retreatment if an individual subject’s score falls outside of the clinical range. The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) can potentially be used in the classroom setting to provide an objective analysis of student progress over time and help pinpoint areas where improvement can be made.

Evidence-Based Practice

Social Communication Emotional Regulation Transactional Supports (SCERTS) refers to an evidence-based practice that is designed to promote social communication, emotional regulation, and transactional supports for mental health clients. Social communication skills are essential to the success of people with mental illness and the success of those in their support network. The purpose of this practice is to increase these skills in order to allow the individual to participate more fully in life and at work (Rubin et al., 2013).

The (SCERTS) model aims at improving social communication between the child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and the parent, therapist, or other caregiver and to support the child’s emotional regulation. The SCERTS model is a part of evidence-based practice. Evidence-based practice (EBP) is about taking appropriate and necessary steps based on research results on how to treat a problem or improve services for individuals with ASD (Rubin et al., 2013).

This model is a multidisciplinary, educational, comprehensive approach that intends to maximize long-term positive outcomes for people with ASD and their families while effectively embracing a wide-range of more focused evidence-based interventions. SCERTS is a set of interventions geared toward increasing emotional self-regulation in children with ASD and their families.

To meet the goals of SCERTS, various components are incorporated. It is important to keep in mind that this model suits a particular target audience. Specifically, it is for individuals with ASD who experience difficulties with emotional self-regulation. There are no special characteristics regarding the autism spectrum disorders that would prevent this model from being applied to other individuals on the autism spectrum. This model has been used successfully by professionals in several aspects of intervention and they have reported some positive results on both children and their family members. All of these outcomes stem from the individual’s ability to regulate their emotions, which stems from the interaction of interventions.

The main pros of Social Communication Emotional Regulation Transactional Supports (SCERTS) include:

– It is a good way to address the needs of individuals with emotional and behavioral challenges

– It can be used to build trusting relationships with students, parents, or staff members

– As it’s a social process the student will not have to do all work alone and would have a chance for peer assistance.

The main cons of SCERTS are that it is not always effective because students sometimes feel they are being talked down to, there isn’t always reinforcement when a student does what they are asked, and some students don’t want to disclose their personal information. Although this method may not be for everyone some schools choose it for various reasons.

I can use this intervention in my classroom to help students that need help managing their emotional state and there are times when they cannot do it on their own. This may be a good intervention method to use because SCERTS is a social process which would allow peer assistance.

References

Chan, W., Smith, L. E., Hong, J., Greenberg, J. S., & Mailick, M. R. (2017). Validating the social responsiveness scale for adults with autism. Autism Research, 10(10), 1663-1671.

Rubin, E., Prizant, B. M., Laurent, A. C., & Wetherby, A. M. (2013). Social communication, emotional regulation, and transactional support (SCERTS). In Interventions for autism spectrum disorders (pp. 107-127). Springer, New York, NY.