BOOK REVIEW
Authentic Assessment for Early ChildhoodIntervention: Best Practices
By Stephen J. Bagnato
Paperback: 315 pages. Guilford Press, New York, NY. Cost: not known.
Most researchers and clinicians working with individu-
als with intellectual disability face a common challenge
with regard to measurement of cognitive and behaviour-
al difficulties. Identifying appropriate assessments and
measures that have been designed for the intellectual
disability population can be difficult. In this book,
Stephen Bagnato provides a very detailed description
of the rationale, structure and methods for what he
terms ‘authentic’ assessment of young children with
disabilities.
Bagnato covers a wide range of assessments from
assessing early developmental milestones and curricu-
lum-based assessment to functional analysis of challeng-
ing behaviours in this population. There is a strong
emphasis on moving away from using standard-
ized assessment tools within the intellectual disability
population towards more individualized assessments
that require detailed and careful observation in natural
and analogue situations alongside extensive consultation
and observation with parents and carers and other
professionals.
Some may find the suggestion to ‘abandon standard-
ized testing’ a somewhat extreme perspective. However,
the principles for ensuring careful and detailed assess-
ment of complex difficulties that are highlighted
throughout the book are clearly very important in this
population. The suggestion for careful consideration
with regard to where DSM classifications and criteria
may, or may not, be appropriate or helpful in ensuring
suitable intervention programmes for individuals with
intellectual disability is particularly helpful.
Another problem raised is the reliance on Piagetian
theory to underpin the selection of assessment tools
and suitable measures and the expectation of an indi-
vidual’s developmental pathway. Bagnato suggests that
a ‘Piagetian framework to observe and understand
developmental stages and progressions for all children’
is somewhat limited and does not fully take into
consideration the concept of atypical trajectories of
development that have been observed in a wide
range of genetic syndromes associated with intellectual
disability. A focus on Piagetian developmental sequen-
ces may result in failure to consider and identify
uneven profiles of development that are typical of this
population.
Overall, the approach to assessment and intervention
in individuals with intellectual disability that Bagnato
highlights in this book is important and helpful. The
‘Best Practice Guide Points’ that appear throughout the
book and at the end of each chapter provide a very use-
ful summary of the key points for consideration and
help to guide the reader through an appropriate assess-
ment and intervention process. This book will be a very
useful resource for a wide range of clinicians and
researchers and a good addition to the literature regard-
ing assessment in intellectual disability.
Patricia Howlin
Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry,
King’s College London, London, UK
(e-mail: [email protected])
Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities 2013, 26, 181
� 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd 10.1111/j.1468-3148.2009.00537.x
Published for the British Institute of Learning Disabilities
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