Psychological assessment of adolescents and adults with autism.

Szempruch et al. (1993) tracked autistic teens and adults who also had intellectual disability. They gave each person the PEP test, then waited five years and gave the same people the AAPEP test.

The team wanted to know if early PEP scores could predict later AAPEP scores. They looked at matching skill areas like eye-hand coordination, imitation, fine motor, and thinking skills.

PEP scores in eye-hand coordination, imitation, fine motor, and cognitive areas did forecast later AAPEP scores in vocational, social, leisure, and communication areas.

Strong early PEP scores meant better adaptive skills five years later. The link held true for both adolescents and adults with autism plus ID.

Parsons et al. (1989) built the AAPEP tool that this study used as the outcome measure. Their work showed the test is reliable and useful, which gives weight to the 1993 predictions.

Baghdadli et al. (2012) followed 152 autistic children from preschool to adolescence. They also found that early skills shape later adaptive growth, extending the 1993 teen-adult window backward to early childhood.

Thurm et al. (2007) saw that poor joint attention and imitation at age 2-3 predicted minimal language by age 5. Szempruch et al. (1993) found that weak imitation on the PEP predicted poorer communication five years later. Both studies point to imitation as a red-flag skill to watch.

If you assess an autistic teen or adult with ID, pay close attention to PEP imitation, fine motor, and eye-hand scores. Low scores today can flag where extra support will be needed for vocational, leisure, and communication goals tomorrow. Use these findings to justify starting targeted skill building now rather than waiting for problems to show up later.