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AEPS® has been developed and refined by a team of highly respected researchers and educators, beginning with Dr. Diane Bricker, professor emerita of early intervention in the area of special education, University of Oregon. This group has worked steadily for more than 30 years to ensure that AEPS is not only an accurate, reliable, valid, and highly sensitive assessment tool, but also a proven instrument for designing an effective intervention program.
The developers have incorporated thousands of hours of field testing and feedback from teachers, caregivers, and other members of a child's team to create a linked system that takes the professional directly from assessment to intervention programming, which is specifically tailored and results in real progress for the individual child.
AEPS Is the Real Deal
AEPS is backed by more peer-reviewed research than any other comparable instrument. This means that when we say that AEPS can be used for a certain purpose or a certain population, users can be assured that those claims have been thoroughly examined and validated in accordance with best practices of scientific research.
AEPS exceeds all of the criteria for "scientifically based" research established by No Child Left Behind and has led the way for excellence in curriculum-based assessment measures.
Many tools that claim to be valid and reliable have little or no research behind them to demonstrate that they do what they claim they do. Historical and current research demonstrates that AEPS maintains its integrity and consistency over time. Users can trust that any purpose AEPS says it can be used for has been researched with the population in question (including children without disabilities, children at risk of developmental delay, and children with a variety of disabilities such as blindness, autism, speech delays, and cerebral palsy).
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What the Studies Show Since 1984
Since 1984 numerous grant-funded studies, many supported by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), have demonstrated AEPS's reliability and validity in assessing and developing appropriate goals for young children. Some specific findings:
- AEPS is valid and reliable and has been shown to have concurrent validity with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (AEPS Birth to Three) and the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (AEPS Three to Six).
- Treatment validity studies prove that the AEPS Test improves the quality of services delivered to children and produces measurable child performance outcomes that surpass expectations. Interventionists have been found to create significantly higher quality IFSP/IEP goals with AEPS—goals that are measurable, more functional, easier to sequence, and easier to integrate into daily activities. One study also showed that using the AEPS Test shaves an average of 57 minutes off the time it takes to create an IFSP/IEP for each child.
- Item analysis studies confirm that AEPS items are arranged from simple to more complex in each developmental area, demonstrating appropriate developmental skill sequencing.
- A study of the effectiveness of AEPS family measures found that interventionists using AEPS include significantly more family-related outcomes on children's IFSPs, which improves families' satisfaction with their child's progress and the child's program.
- A substantial majority of AEPS users find that instructions for administration are clear, test results are highly useful for developing intervention plans, and test items cover their pressing concerns for the children they teach.
See a complete list of the studies that have been conducted on AEPS (DOC). For details on the research on AEPS and its psychometric properties, download Psychometric Properties of the AEPS (PDF). |
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