Case Study: Assessment & Interventions for Child with Autism

This case study presents a comprehensive assessment of Miral Assam, an eleven-year-old Aboriginal girl diagnosed with autism, residing in Australia. The assessment incorporates information gathered from multiple sources, including interviews with the mother and teacher, a review of her Individu...Read More

Running Head: Child Assessment 1
Child Assessment
Student’s Name
Institution Affiliation
Instructor’s Name
Course
Date

Child Assessment 2
Education Assessment
Name: Miral Assam
Date of Birth: 20 October 2011
Age: 11 years
Grade: k7
School: lovely kids’ school
Provider: parent
Dates of testing: 4/14/2018 and 5/13/ 2018
Sources of Information
4/14/2018: Interview with the mother
4/14/2018: Interview with the class teacher
4/14/2018: Area individualized education program
5/12/2018: Area psycho- educational assistant
5/13/2018: Area functional behavior assessment

Child Assessment 3
Referral Reasons
Miral Assam is an eleven year, Aboriginal living in Australia; she is a female with an autism
disorder. A pyscho- educational assessment referred to her for purposes of seeking an
educational intervention.
Presenting Problems
According to Miral’s mother, the kid is able to cope well with others at home and in
school, but she is concerned with the deteriorating academic results of her daughter. The only
problems noticed by the mother is that in case she injures herself at home, she always exhibits
problems remembering where what she was doing before the injury (Dixon et al, 2014).
According to her teacher, Miral has difficulties even remembering her name. The student
is not even able to differentiate lower from uppercase letters. The teacher expressed concerns of
the student even being able to memorize simple poems. On interviewing the kid, it was found out
that the kid has issues in maintaining the numerical sequence on a count of 0-10.
The teacher conceded that the student is not able to answer questions involving grammar.
She has difficulty in mixing the tenses, at times she mixes present tense, past and she has hurdles
in maintaining fluid speech. When it comes to numbers, the student is not able to make simple
conversions involving fractions and decimals. At home, the mother stated that the girl at times
finds it difficult to be with her sisters and she generally talks in the third person.
Another area of concern involves traveling as the girl is generally restless. When the girl
is out there to play, she has problems standing on one foot for even 10 seconds. While she needs
to help herself in the washrooms, the girl has problems of buttoning and unbuttoning herself, and

Child Assessment 4
she finds herself having soiled herself. The mother said that on their days out the young girl is to
even able to swing, pedal or even catch a ball while at a distance. At school, the teacher reported
that the girl had issues in handling the writing materials like geometrical sets, pens, pencils, and
crayons. The teacher indicated that Miral has issues of even handling the laptops and she finds
herself putting those passwords she is not able to recall (Goldstein, & Ozonoff, 2018).
In school, Miral has many issues as she cannot be able to conduct normal activities like
brushing her teeth, undressing and taking a bath without the help of someone. This means that
the patient had issues with self-care. Though the mother stated that Miral uses the bathroom
during the day she needs to be there for hygiene purpose. The mother stated that Miral has
problems in washing her hands using soap and water. According to the mother, Miral has no
control, and she can stand there just watching water flowing from the faucet without cleaning her
hands (Estes et al, 2014).
According to her teacher, Miral has difficulties concentrating in her books and her
concentration lasts less than 10 minutes. She throws tantrums at the other kids, and the teacher
has to keep a keen eye on her to remind her that they are learning. During the meals time, Miral
cannot be able to concentrate for ten minutes, and she cannot sit through eating her meals
without entertainment. Her mother reported that the girl could not live a day without getting an
extra chocolate or ice cream. In case she is taken for medical examinations, the mother reported
that the girl throws tantrums and she is very rigid. She said that the girl always rejects attending
schools and in the morning she must be taken to school as she cries a lot.
Lastly, the mother reported that Miral has much repetitive and sensory sensitivity that
fails to cease even when they are treated. At home, the mother said that the girl has issues

Child Assessment 5
following whichever guest visiting them. The girl likes to watch horror movies and the Dinausor
cartoons. The girl refuses to eat food that is in certain textures and the mother stated that the girl
claps her hands when she is either excited or frustrated. The mother stated that she is afraid of
her girl who is headed for her teenage years as she has many issues with her body hygiene.
Relevant Medical History
From the medical records of Miral Assam that were retrieved from the Australian
memorial hospital. The medical history shows that the girl has been suffering from repeated
significant fever and ear infections. The ear infections are from the audiology report that was
recorded by Dr. Chris early last year.
Medication
None
Therapy
According to from Miral Assam mother, her daughter receives a speech and language therapy
from Australia memorial hospital for 5 hours in a week. She also undergoes occupational therapy
3 hours a week at the same facility.

Child Assessment 6
Allergies
None
Previous Assessments
Functional Behavior Assessments
There were many needs than strengths from the spheres of language and communication.
The patient demonstrated that she had issues with adaptive and social skills. The specialist
recommended that the patient should be given 15 hours of direct behavioral intervention and 2-
hour daily parent education to be given.
Occupational Therapy Assessment
The Peabody developmental motor scales (PDMS -2) is the tool that was used in the
assessment of the finer and the gross motor skills. The fine motor skills assessed showed that
Miral Assim had visual motor skills that were about 37 percentile and the low grasping range of
16 percentile. When the teacher administered the sensory process measure from the responses,
Miral was within the range of social participation. All the other sensory systems were found out
that they were functioning at an optimal rate hence occupational therapy was not recommended.
Pyscho-Educational Assessment
The Mullen scales for early learning were used in measuring Miral performance. The
following percentiles were observed, the fine motor was at 18 percentile, the receptive language
was at 16 percentile while the visual reception was at 16 percentile. The borderline percentile
range on the 4th percentile while on the Bracken school readiness Assessment, Miral was in the

Child Assessment 7
55th percentile. On the BASC-3 clinically significant elevations, they were formulated from the
mother's report in areas such as depression, withdrawal, hyperactivity, social skills, and
functional communication and the activity of daily living. The assessment indicated that they
showed no clinically significant elevations.
The Autism Spectrum Rating Scales (ASRS) based on the responses from the teacher
they showed that there were clinically significant deficits. They were observable in many areas
such as self-regulation, behavioral rigidity, and self-regulation and unusual behaviors. On the
same level, the mothers' report showed that there were clinically significant elevations in the
entire areas where a score could be given including all the above mention areas such as self-
regulation, reciprocity, attention and sensory sensitivity.
Family Medical Report and Psychiatric History
The mother reported that in the family line there is the presence of ADHD, Alzheimer’s
condition and Autism
History of Development
According to Miral Assim mother, her pregnancy for that child was full of tribulations as
she developed anemia a chronic condition. She later developed gestational diabetes when the
pregnancy was 13 weeks, and she started to take iron in order to control anemia while the diet
controlled gestational diabetes. At that time she was at the age of 38 years, and the bay was born
when the pregnancy was at 39 weeks (Ginn et al, 2017). The labor was complicated and difficult
as the water was hard to break and she was not able to dilate. She received fluids and an epidural,

Child Assessment 8
but the baby was born in good health though she developed jaundice at her second day of living.
They were later discharged after a three-day vacation at the facility (Brunsdon et al, 2015).
At the infancy, the baby was fussy, but she was difficult to be consoled as she was
experiencing problems with sleeping. The baby developed colic, and this made him not to be
able to walk. The baby walked on time, and she started to receive simple instructions at the age
of 24 months. The baby used to use a diaper in the evening till she was 42 months old. She
learned to feed herself though she struggles to feed independently until now (Bedford, Pickles, &
Lord, 2016). The baby is shy, easily irritable and has difficulty in paying attention.
Psychosocial History
Miral Assim lives with her mother, two sisters and a nearby cousin who lives with his
husband. They speak Aboriginal language. According to her mother, Assim speaks Canadian
better than the aboriginal language. Her mother is a single parent who works outside the house as
a housekeeper. The mother reports that she always misses work to take care of her ailing
daughter who also misses school due to her condition (Hazlett et al, 2017).
While at home the daughter’s favorite pastimes are watching horror movies with
Dinausors. Outside she likes jumping and running. The mother reported that that Assim seeks
friendship from the older children in disregard to her age mates. She likes befriending any guests
that come knocking at their door while likes to exercises some unusual eye contacts. In
disciplining her, the mother indicated that she withdraws the television control and also she hides
her toys while at all costs avoiding physically discipline her daughter (Christensen et al, 2016).

Child Assessment 9
Educational History
Miral Assam is currently enrolled at Lovely kids’ school at K7 which is a public school.
Assim receives education services from the category of speech and language impairment. The
child is supposed to be given speech-language pathologist that gives the child support every
week. The language assistance is given every 2 hours early in the morning (Wong et al, 2015).
Classroom Observation
While the observation that was reported by a pyscho-educational assistant is that on
14/7/2018 at around 11.00 am, she made a visit to Assim’s class where she met they were eight
children. She was somehow entirely though the class teacher was there marking some of their
books. She then drew their attention and directed a comment to a child, “can we draw a
rainbow.” Then the pyscho-education assistant used some circle/cogs and they pupils started
having a reciprocal conversation (Tustin, 2018). When the teacher asked Assim what was
happening, she replied happily that the Dinausor had no legs (Volkmar et al, 2014).
Tests Administered
Beer-Buktenica developmental test of visual-motor integration (Beery VMI)
Wechsler individual achievement test 3rd edition (Wiat-III)
Woodcock-Johnson IV tests of oral Language (WJ-IV TOL)
Mental Status and Behavioral Observations
Assim arrived for testing with her mother where the testing took place in two days. It was carried
out in Canadian language and Aboriginal language by a clinical psychologist. To determine the

Child Assessment 10
language proficiency, it was found out that she was better in Canadian language more than
aboriginal language (Schrank, Mather, & McGrew, 2014)
. The patient utilized the right and fist grasp for completion of graph motor tasks. She did
not utilize any additions like glasses or any assistive devices. She was neat, clean and talkative
and she was quickly separated from her mother. She had issues pronouncing some sounds, and
her speech was impaired. Her comprehension was in difficulty, and when given a visual-spatial
task pertaining shapes instead of locating triangles she located in circles. Her tone was prosody,
mood liable but seemed irritable. No suicidal or homicidal ideation was reported (Tustin, 2018).
Results and Key Findings
Interpretation of the Key Findings
score Percentile range classification
Above 130 98-99.99 Very superior
121-129 92-98 superior
111-120 76-91 High average
90-110 75-25 average
80-89 24-9 Low average
70-79 8-3 borderline
Below 70 Below 2 impaired

Child Assessment 11
Summary of the Results
Miral Assim is an 11 year old, right handed, Aboriginal kid with a history of language and
speech impairment. She has an autism spectrum disorder and was referred so that an educational
assessment to inform on educational intervention planning. Miral is suffering from a condition
known as Autism disorder which is not very development. Upon keen follow up to
recommendations she is capable of getting over it (Schrank, Mather, & McGrew, 2014)
.
Recommendations
Language/auditory processing
A speech therapy to be carried out with keen interest on vocabulary building
Keeping the instructions simple and clear
Frequently check on her for clarity in instructions and comprehension
Provide visual aids for reinforcements on verbal instructions and academic content like maps,
stories and science lessons
The mother should ensure that the younger sisters are able to teach their younger sister the skills
of life in close supervision of the mother
The mother should get visual aids to be used in teaching Miral Assam
The teacher should start a speech therapy to Miral carried on every day for 2 hours
Achievement (Schrank, Mather, & McGrew, 2014)

Child Assessment 12
WIAT-III Raw score Grade based
standard
score
%ire rating Grade
equivalent
Early reading
skills
8 86 18 Low average <PK.0
Math
problem
solving
12 84 14 Low average <PK.0
Alphabet
writing
fluency
0 74 4 borderline <PK.0
Achievement
WIAT-III Raw score Grade based
standard
score
%ire rating Grade
Equivalent
Early reading
skill
8 89 23 Low average <4:0
Math
problem
solving
12 89 23 Low average <4:0
Alphabet
writing
0 77 6 borderline <4:0

Child Assessment 13
fluency

Child Assessment 14
References
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Exploring the cognitive features in children with autism spectrum disorder, their co‐twins, and
typically developing children within a population‐based sample. Journal of Child Psychology
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Christensen, D. L., Bilder, D. A., Zahorodny, W., Pettygrove, S., Durkin, M. S., Fitzgerald, R.
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Child Assessment 15
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