Start with what you are observing
You may be looking for an answer to a particular question, a different way of understanding something you have observed, or a more individualized approach to assessment and programming.
You don't need to explore everything at once. Start with the question that feels most relevant to the child you are supporting.
What if this child understands more than they can show me?
What if spoken language isn't this child's strongest route into learning?
Why does this child seem to tune out when I speak?
How can I explore and develop this child's visual learning abilities step by step?
Why does this child demonstrate an ability in one setting but not another?
How do I identify a meaningful starting point when there are needs across so many areas?
More questions to explore
Your questions and observations help this collection grow. We will continue adding questions and linking to relevant articles, webinars, assessment domains and other resources.
Is there a question you would like us to explore?
Explore the Professional Perspective
If you would like to look more broadly at how understanding the individual child can guide assessment, planning and support, explore the Professional Perspective step by step.
Our monthly conversations will also explore these topics through examples, observation, reflection and discussion. Recordings and related materials will be added beneath each step so that you can revisit them at your own pace.
1What do we already know about this child?
Before beginning a new assessment or developing a program, what information do we already have about the individual child?
What do parents and caregivers know about the child's interests, communication, routines, sensory experiences, relationships, strengths and everyday participation?
What have teachers, therapists and other supporting professionals observed in their own settings?
What does the child already do independently, with support or under particular conditions?
Different people may see different parts of the child. Bringing those observations together can help us develop a more complete understanding of the individual learner.
2How can we observe differently?
Before interpreting a behaviour as inattention, avoidance or an inability to perform a task, what can we learn by observing the child more closely?
What captures their attention? What do they return to? When do they appear comfortable, engaged or interested?
How do their responses change across people, activities and environments?
What is this child showing us that they can already do?
And what might these observations tell us about how the child experiences, understands and responds to the world?
3What does child-centered mean in professional practice?
Being child-centered involves more than selecting activities that a child enjoys or adapting an existing program to their preferences.
It means allowing what we learn from the individual child (their interests, sensory experiences, communication, attention, strengths and emerging abilities) to influence how we assess, where we begin and what we consider building next.
The framework gives us places to observe. The child helps us understand what those observations mean.
4What does relationship-centered look like in professional practice?
The relationship between the child and the supporting adult can influence what the child is willing and able to show us.
Before increasing expectations, we consider whether our communication is understandable, our approach is predictable and the activity is meaningful to the child.
How can we join the child's interests, establish familiarity and create opportunities for shared engagement?
What might we change in our own communication, expectations or approach?
Sometimes changing our approach reveals abilities that increasing our demands does not.
5How might sensory experiences influence what we are observing?
How does the child respond to sound, movement, touch, visual information, proximity to others and the demands of different environments?
What helps the child feel comfortable and available for interaction and learning?
Could the way information is presented or the conditions in which an activity takes place influence what the child is able to demonstrate?
Rather than asking only, "Can this child do this?" we also ask:
"Under what conditions can this child show me what they can do?"
6What are this child's strongest routes into learning?
What can we discover by exploring how the child responds to visual information, movement, imitation, demonstration, familiar routines and personally meaningful activities?
Does the child recognize relationships between objects, pictures, actions or sequences that may not be apparent through spoken-language instruction alone?
How might an existing strength provide a route into developing another ability?
A strength is not simply something to record. It may help us discover how the child learns.
7What does the family see that we may not?
A child may demonstrate different abilities with different people, in familiar routines or in different environments.
How can the family's observations help us understand what the child already knows, what is meaningful to them and the conditions that support participation?
How can we bring family knowledge and professional observations together without assuming that one perspective tells the whole story?
Different perspectives give us information. The child helps us make sense of it.
8What are the meaningful priorities?
What would make a meaningful difference in this child's everyday life?
What matters to the child and family? What opportunities for communication, participation, learning, relationships and independence might we explore?
How can we bring these priorities together with our observations of the child's existing strengths and emerging abilities?
Family priorities help us understand where we hope to go. Understanding the child helps us consider how we might get there.
9Where might we begin?
AAPT provides a structured way to bring observations together, identify priority domains, recognize existing and emerging abilities, and select meaningful individual starting objectives.
Assessment may reveal many possibilities, but they do not all need to become immediate teaching goals.
We do not choose the starting point from the framework alone. The child helps us find it.
Explore AAPT: Autism Skill Assessment and Programming Tools →
Continue the Conversation
Understanding a child is an ongoing process. As you observe, reflect and try different ways of connecting and communicating, new questions may emerge.
Our monthly conversations provide opportunities for parents and professionals to share observations, explore questions and consider how what we learn from the individual child can guide what comes next.
Bring your questions. Bring your observations.