What does ACIS mean in GERIATRIC

The Assessment of Communication and Interaction Skills (ACIS) is an assessment tool designed to help clinicians identify communication and interaction issues in children with autism spectrum disorder. It includes a range of items that evaluate a child’s receptive, expressive, and pragmatic language skills; conversation skills; vocal gestures; and interpersonal non-verbal behaviors.

The ACIS is appropriate for use with any child between 3 and 7 years of age who has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

The full ACIS assessment typically takes approximately 2 hours, depending on the individual being assessed.

The ACIS should be administered by professionals experienced in diagnosing autism spectrum disorder, such as clinical psychologists, speech pathologists, or occupational therapists. In some cases, other qualified professionals may also be appropriate.

Materials required for an ACIS assessment will depend on the nature of the situation being assessed. Generally speaking, materials required include play toys and activities as well as objects from everyday life that can be used to assess a variety of communicative functions.

After all the data has been collected during an ACIS assessment, it is analyzed using standardized scoring systems to determine a score for each domain being evaluated. This score is then used to form conclusions about communication strengths and areas of difficulty within that child’s development.

A high score in any domain assessed through the ACIS does not necessarily suggest any particular diagnosis or prognosis; rather it provides information regarding relative strengths or weaknesses related to communication that can help guide educational programming decisions or clinical recommendations for intervention strategies.

No prior instruction is necessary before takingthe ACIs test. However, prior knowledge or experience with experimentation and assessment tools can be beneficial when administering this type of evaluation assessment as these skills will help inform better interventions based on identified needs observed through testing activities.

Yes! Written comments are encouraged in order to provide additional detail about interactions observed during testing that may not have been captured through numerical scoring alone. Such comments can provide useful insight into a child's behavior beyond what may be provided by traditional scores alone.