Despite all that is known about the needs of children on the autism spectrum and strategies to meet those needs, there remains a significant gap in applying this knowledge.
In reality, most educational settings are not equipped with the level of expertise, resources and flexibility to offer appropriately matched and responsive services to every child on the spectrum.
Given this current limitation, matching individual interventions at the child level within a classroom may meet the intent of
matching a child to a treatment.
However, the expectation that this can be done on a broader classroom level is still a challenge in most educational settings.
The uniqueness of individuals along the autism spectrum means that one size does not fit all.
A classroom or program that meets a student’s needs at a specific time, that considers the family situation and context, and sets the stage to respond to these changing needs will be the most productive match between student and program.
An appropriate match will be evidenced by data and result in outcomes producing meaningful change and apparent social validity.
One needs to consider variables at all level to increase the chances that the collaboration between families and professionals will be productive and that each student with ASD will receive meaningful and effective services based on empirical support and informed by the available evidence.