Using differential item functioning to validate a judgement-based assessment of emergent literacy for students with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

The co-occurrence of autism spectrum disorder with other disabilities blurs boundaries between patterns of learning related to, or impacted by, this disorder, and those related to other developmental or intellectual disabilities. This study extended previous research that suggested emergent skills among children with autism spectrum disorder could be fairly and meaningfully assessed using the same judgement-based protocols as for children with other learning disabilities (Woods, The design and validation of measures of communication and literacy to support the instruction of students with learning disabilities. Unpublished doctoral thesis, The University of Melbourne, Australia, 2010). One a..