Abstract
The number of children in school-based settings diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder has been increasing, according to U.S. Department of Education (2002) statistics. Although many researchers have written extensively on the benefits of inclusion for children with autism spectrum disorder, social behavior idiosyncrasies exhibited by these children can limit its potential benefits. The purpose of this article is to describe a systematic, functional assessment approach for identifying environmental contextual factors related to the occurrence of peer-related social interactions and the outcomes (ie, functions) that maintain those behaviors. In particular, 2 descriptive assessment tools, the Social Skills Interview and the Snapshot Assessment Tool, both developed by the authors will be explained and illustrated. Both the tools were developed to be classroom-friendly instruments to assist with the objective description of environmental contextual factors that may influence the social behaviors of children with autism spectrum disorder. A case example is presented to demonstrate how the use of these 2 instruments led to the development of an assessment-based intervention to improve the social behaviors of a young child on the autism spectrum.