What is the EIC-ASD?

The tool entitled “Enhancing Instructional Contexts for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (EIC-ASD)” represents a collaborative effort between Georgia State University and the Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Support (GNETS). The rubric in the tool provides a framework for assessing the ability of instructional contexts to support students who have ASD. Research defines best practices for students with ASD and these are reflected in the EIC-ASD. The tool is based on common strengths and core deficits among individuals with ASD and is designed to be used across age and ability levels in a variety of instructional settings.

The EIC-ASD can be used to:

• Identify best practices in place for students with ASD
• Identify elements that need to be addressed to improve instructional contexts

Using the EIC-ASD Effectively

The EIC-ASD is not scored and is not used for teacher evaluation (since the entire context is examined). Raters (self or others) simply identify which of the descriptions in the rubric is the best match for what is currently happening. Then instructional teams can look at the results to determine what they are doing well and what they want to work on to support students with ASD.

This website allows users to see examples of each of the ratings on the rubric for each item. For the “Exemplary” items, users can also choose to look at examples across three age levels: early childhood, elementary, secondary (includes middle and high school) and compare examples for students who are functioning on the higher and lower ends of the spectrum.

The online version of the EIC-ASD allows you to browse and evaluate examples of instructional best practices for students with ASD through video and pictures that illustrate the concepts.

Print the text version of the EIC-ASD in order to review your classroom in context.