Instead of simply listing the assessment and intervention methods currently being used for autistic children, thereby creating a reference manual, New York has published a statement of its opinions of those methods. While New York makes an attempt to note which of its positions are based on fact and which are opinions of the authors, the distinction remains unclear. A key describing the meaning of the letter tags appears at the beginning of each section in the report.
Opinions are like rear ends.
Everybody's got one. Since New York has decided to voice its opinions regarding appropriate assessment and intervention methods for children with autism, and has chosen to place those opinions out here in cyberspace where all of us can see them, we feel entitled to offer you our opinions of their opinions. In Chapter 3 of New York's guidelines, the authors comment on the need for a developmental assessment of the child. We have no problem agreeing with them since such as assessment is necessary to document the child's present levels of performance. It is very likely that an autistic child's performance during a developmental assessment will not be a reliable indicator of his or her cognitive ability, or of any other ability.