ACTNOW Fact Sheet 7

PSYCHOEDUCATIONAL PROFILE REVISED (PEP-R)

(Authors: Schopler, Reichler, Bashford, Lansing and Marcus)

by Dr Avril Brereton

BACKGROUND AND USES OF THE PEP-R

The PEP-R was developed in 1990 from an earlier version of the PEP.  It is a standardised observational assessment instrument based on a developmental approach.

Autistic children have often been regarded as un-testable in the past, but this was primarily due to problems with the type of assessments that were used.  The PEP-R was developed to assess the developmental level of young children with autism, who may be non-verbal, have limited attention skills and poor concentration, and who are not used to a formal testing situation.

Its positive features for assessing children with developmental delays include attractive and motivating materials and no time pressure to complete the tasks.  It was also specifically designed to minimise the amount and quality of language needed to communicate directions to the child.  The amount of language needed by the children to respond to the majority of the items is also minimal.

The developmental framework of the PEP-R provides a way to describe and understand the characteristic uneven learning patterns exhibited by children with autism or related developmental disorders.  It is particularly useful because in addition to the developmental framework, there is a behavioural component which can be used to assess the level and nature of behavioural problems.

The PEP-R is most appropriately used with children functioning at or below the pre-school range and within the chronological age range of 6 months to 7 years.  If the child is older than 7 years but younger than 12 years, the PEP-R can still provide useful information when at least some developmental skills are at or below that of first grade level.  It cannot be used with children aged 12 years or older.

The PEP-R is not designed to determine the child’s general level of intellectual functioning and was not designed to be a psychometric instrument.  It is an assessment tool for identifying the particular strengths and weaknesses of individual children.  It cannot be used to determine IQ.  The results of the PEP-R do correlate with the WPPSI–III (Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Third Edition) but not significantly.

The PEP-R can be administered, scored and interpreted by anyone who has experience working with and testing children.  New examiners should read the manual and familiarise themselves with the materials and directions.  It is recommended that new examiners administer several practice PEP-Rs under the direct supervision of an experienced user.  The first few should be done with typically developing children if possible.

STRUCTURE OF THE PEP-R

The time taken to administer the PEP-R is usually between 45-90 minutes.

The PEP-R has seven developmental sub-scales, which provide useful information on the nature of a child’s learning skills and difficulties.

  DEVELOPMENTAL SCALE

Autism is not only characterised by developmental delays but also atypical behaviours. The PEP-R has a Behavioural Scale that is based on the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS). There are four behavioural sub-scales (although these are not used as often as the developmental scales).

  BEHAVIOURAL SCALE

ADMINISTRATION OF THE PEP-R

The PEP-R is administered in a structured one-on-one setting.  The PEP-R should not be administered to a child more than once every twelve months.

The testing environment should be free from other distractions.  It can be helpful to have a parent in the testing room, particularly if the child is anxious about separating from the parent.  Consider bringing some tangible rewards.

TEST MATERIALS

There is a test kit consisting of toys and learning materials that are presented to children within the context of structured play activities.  The examiner observes, evaluates and records the child’s responses during these play activities.

The items of the PEP-R can be administered in any order.  This allows the examiner to be flexible to meet the needs of the individual child.  Children do not have to be seated at a table facing the examiner for the administration of the PEP-R, which is a requirement of many other tests and which can be very difficult for some young children with autism.  Some children do better with this additional structure, while others will do better if materials are presented to them and they work with the examiner on the floor.

Verbal directions, gestures and cues, demonstrations and physical guidance can be used to indicate instructions.  There is a specific hierarchy of these techniques outlined in the manual (p11).

The scores obtained on the PEP-R are based on tasks that have been done during the assessment situation and therefore are different to measures based on self-report.  It is often helpful to have parents in the testing room so that the examiner can ask parents whether their child is able to complete a task in another setting.  This will assist in establishing if parents think the assessment has accurately reflected their child’s ability or whether in other situations they could have done more.

REFERENCES

Parks, Susan L.  (1988)  Psychometric instruments available for the assessment of Autistic Children in Diagnosis and Assessment in Autism, Schopler, Eric and Mesibov, Gary B. (eds), p 123-136.

Schopler, Reichler, Bashford, Lansing and Marcus (1990)  Volume 1 Psychoeducational Profile Revised (PEP-R), Pro-Ed, USA.

Steerneman, Pim, Muris, Peter, Merckelbach, Harald and Willems, Hannie. (1997) Assessment of Development and Abnormal Behaviour in Children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders.  Evidence for the Reliability and Validity of the Revised Psychoeducational Profile.  Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 27(2), p177-185.

ORDER FORM FOR THE PEP-R KITS:

http://www.teacch.com/publications/orange2.pdf

Manuals can be obtained from

Co-ordinates (www.autismbookshop.com)

Pro-Ed Australia (www.proedaust.com.au)