FUNCTIONAL SKILLS ASSESSMENT
FUNCTIONAL SKILLS ASSESSMENT
Piloting a Novel Daily Living Skills Assessment in Autistic Adolescents and Young Adults
Wulff et al. Autism in Adulthood (2023), Published Online Ahead of Print
Autism in Adulthood
Piloting a Novel Daily Living Skills Assessment in Autistic Adolescents and Young Adults
SUMMARY
There are a few ecologically valid measurements of Daily Living Skills (DLS)—a critical component of adaptive functioning (AF)—for autistic adolescents and young adults. This is particularly important given that DLS predict outcomes as autistic adolescents transition to adulthood.
These results provide preliminary support for the use of a new performance-based ecologically valid assessment of DLS in an autistic population. Two CFSAT (FUNSAT) modules were well-tolerated and detected differences in DLS ability. Strong correlations with an existing measure of AF suggest evidence of construct validity. The EF was associated with CFSAT task performance in autistic individuals. Such a tool could help identify individuals who would benefit from a DLS intervention.
