Screening and identifying children with autism spectrum disorders in the public school system: the development of a model process.

The authors built a three-step plan schools can follow to spot kids who may have autism.

Step one trains a mixed team of teachers, nurses, and speech staff. Step two gives the team clear checklists and practice. Step three sets rules for who watches the child next.

The paper is a roadmap, not a test of kids.

The model says any public school can copy the steps and catch autism earlier.

No scores or numbers are given; the focus is on making the process steady and clear.

Iadarola et al. (2015) later asked urban schools what still goes wrong. Staff said they still lack hands-on training and team trust—gaps the 2004 plan tried to fix.

Morales-Hidalgo et al. (2018) looked at traits across a whole school. They found autism signs sit on a sliding scale, not a yes/no box. This tweaks the 2004 model: use cut-off ranges, not single pass-fail scores.

Warren et al. (2012) warn that parent forms alone mis-label many kids. Their point backs up the 2004 call for a full team watch before any decision is final.

You can lift the three steps today. Pick a small team, give them shared checklists, and meet weekly to review red-flag kids. Add Paula’s sliding-scale idea by tracking how many signs a child shows, not just if they pass one score. The plan costs no extra gear and starts before any formal eval is even requested.