A comparison between the handicaps behaviour and skills schedule and the psychoeducational profile.
PEP and HBS measure the same child skills, so you can use whichever form your team already knows.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team compared two checklists used for kids with autism. One is the Psycho-Educational Profile (PEP). The other is the Handicaps Behaviour and Skills Schedule (HBS).
They gave both tools to the same group of children with autism. Then they looked at how well the scores matched.
What they found
The two tools lined up closely. Their scores showed a strong .83 correlation. Both also had good internal consistency. This means you can pick either one and get a solid picture of the child’s skills and behaviors.
How this fits with other research
Mace et al. (1990) and Repp et al. (1992) did similar work with the shorter Behavioral Summarized Evaluation (BSE). They also found good validity, but their scale focuses on quick behavior flags.
Siegel et al. (1986) looked at CARS and ASIEP. These tools separate autism from intellectual disability. The target paper does not contradict them; it simply checks two different schedules that track broader development.
Lord et al. (1997) later expanded the BSE into the 29-item BSE-R. This successor study keeps the same goal: give clinicians a sound autism rating. The message across all papers is consistent—use the tool that fits your time and purpose.
Why it matters
You now have evidence that PEP and HBS give matching results. If your clinic already owns one, you do not need to buy the other. Pick the format you prefer, score with confidence, and spend your energy on teaching, not on chasing extra forms.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Comparisons were made of developmental scores (administered with the Psychoeducational Profile [PEP] and the Handicaps Behaviour and Skills Schedule [HBS] for a group of 72 children ages 23 to 148 months. All children had been referred to the Centre of Autism in Leiden, the Netherlands. This Centre is a collaboration between the University clinic of special education and the regional health service. Forty-five children were diagnosed as autistic and 27 as nonautistic but suffering from another disorder. In this study, the correlation between the two instruments is higher than expected, in particular for the group of autistic children (.83). The internal consistency of the subscales of the PEP and the HBS are overall very satisfactory. The Cronbach's alphas of the PEP scales vary from .79 to .96 for the total group and from .77 to .95 for the autistic group. The alphas for the HBS vary from .74 to .92 for the total group and from .20 to .87 for the autistic group, there is one alpha at .20, the rest are .60 or higher.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 1993 · doi:10.1007/BF01046219