Examining the quality of IEPs for young children with autism.

The team built a 30-item rubric to score IEPs written for young children with autism.

Two raters used the tool on a set of real IEPs to see if it gave the same score twice.

They also checked whether better IEPs came from certain teachers, schools, or child traits.

The rubric was reliable; two people usually gave the same score to the same plan.

Present-level pages were clear, but goals and objectives were often vague.

Surprisingly, IEP quality did not link to any child, teacher, or school factor they tested.

Granieri et al. (2020) later widened the lens with the KidsLife-ASD Scale. It also works for autistic kids and adds quality-of-life data that the IEP rubric misses.

Blanchette et al. (2016) built a different 3-factor scale that asks parents and teachers how much they like skill-building lessons. Together, the three tools give you a full picture: IEP quality, life quality, and social validity.

Ferreri et al. (2011) showed that simple health checks uncover hidden medical needs in people with ID. Their message is the same as here: good checklists reveal gaps that otherwise stay invisible.

You can download the 30-item rubric and audit your next autism IEP in under 15 minutes. Look for vague goals; those are the items that drag the score down. If the plan scores low, you now have item-by-item talking points for the meeting on Monday.