Yes, in most states. In states and territories where teams may use informed clinical judgment and/or a valid assessment instrument as a primary method of determining eligibility, AEPS can be used as a standalone measure. In states and territories where teams are required to administer multiple instruments or administer a criterion-referenced assessment as part of the process, AEPS can be used as a corroborating source. A one-click eligibility report in AEPSi compares a child's AEPS scores with empirically derived cutoff scores and provides guidance to professionals on using the results to determine eligibility in their state.

The information derived from AEPS during eligibility determination can be used for a dual purpose: establishing eligibility and developing meaningful goals and interventions, saving programs valuable time and resources better used for delivering high-quality services to young children and families.

While most traditional standardized norm-referenced tests, and even some criterion-referenced assessments, provide users with age-equivalent scores, there are a number of inherent problems with the practice. First, for many tests the age associated with a given item is not determined empirically; rather the item is assigned an age based on how ages are assigned in other tests or generally agreed upon developmental milestones. Second, age equivalencies do not actually inform teams as to a child's strengths, emerging skills, or needs, which is the charge of a team. Third, having chronological ages assigned to items may lead interventionists and caregivers to select intervention targets based on the age level of an item rather than selecting items that address children's individual developmental needs. Therefore, rather than assigning age equivalencies to AEPS Test items, empirically derived cutoff scores based on the performances of typically developing children were derived for eligibility determination purposes.

State eligibility criteria will differ in terms of the number of areas in which a delay must be documented; however, a common aspect of eligibility determination is the federal directive for evaluation teams to "use a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather relevant functional, developmental, and academic information, including information provided by the parent, that may assist in determining whether the child is a child with a disability." Therefore, we recommend that when using the AEPS Test for eligibility determination all goals from the 6 areas are scored and that teams gather information through multiple observations, reports from families and other familiar adults, and direct testing as needed. However, the smaller objectives associated with each goal need not be scored.