Shining a Spotlight on Assessments Commonly Used in ABA
- Ashleigh
- Jun 10
- 4 min read
Updated: 14 minutes ago
The assessment process in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is an essential first step in crafting high-quality therapy programs that promote meaningful outcomes. Skill-based criterion-referenced assessments are among behavior analysts' most commonly used tools to identify strengths and areas of lagging skills.
This article is the first in a series dedicated to exploring widely used ABA assessments. In this post, we’ll provide a brief overview of the most commonly used tools in practice today. In the following articles, we’ll take a closer look at each assessment, exploring its structure, usage, and how it informs treatment planning and progress monitoring. Let’s dive in!
Purpose of Skill-Based ABA Assessments
Conducting skill assessments in ABA is necessary to develop effective, individualized, and data-driven therapy programs. These assessments help behavior analysts comprehensively evaluate their clients’ strengths, identify skill deficits, and establish a baseline from which to build individualized treatment plans.
Skill-based assessments are beneficial for:
✔️ Identifying skill strengths
✔️ Pinpointing skill deficits
✔️ Informing treatment planning
✔️ Monitoring progress
✔️ Facilitating skill generalization
The ultimate goal of utilizing criterion-referenced skill assessments is to ensure ABA therapy is effective and efficient—leading to meaningful, lasting changes in the learner’s life.
Criterion-Referenced Versus Norm-Referenced Assessments: What’s the Difference?
Criterion-referenced assessments measure the learner’s performance against predefined criteria to identify whether or not they have specific skills. For example, the VB-MAPP is a criterion-referenced assessment evaluating specific verbal behavior skills. Alternatively, norm-referenced assessments compare the learner’s abilities to a representative sample (a “norm group”). This sample is typically same-age peers. For example, standardized tests at school compare the students’ performance in academic areas to other students in their grade level across the state.
There are benefits to both types of assessments. If you want to understand how a learner compares to their peers, a norm-referenced assessment is needed. If your goal is to identify specific skill deficits to guide targeted intervention, a criterion-referenced assessment is your best option. Often, ABA clinicians use a combination of assessments to gain a more comprehensive picture and satisfy insurance requirements.
Common ABA Skill Assessments
There are many different types of skill assessments that BCBAs can use. Each tool is designed to measure abilities across various domains. While not an exhaustive list of every possible assessment, we’ll explore several of the most commonly used assessments ABA professionals use.
Meaningful Outcomes Treatment & Assessment Scale (MOTAS)
The Meaningful Outcomes Treatment & Assessment Scale (MOTAS) is a new assessment released in 2025. This tool can be used with learners across the lifespan. It evaluates an individual’s skills across a wide range of domains, from communication to leisure, safety, finances, and more.
One particularly intriguing component of this tool is that it encompasses measures of whether skills have been generalized and maintained. MOTAS was designed with person-centered planning in mind. Its structure allows behavior analysts to collaborate with caregivers and the individual being assessed to prioritize goals that are relevant and impactful, supporting truly meaningful outcomes, as the name suggests.
Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP)
The VB-MAPP focuses on assessing early learner verbal behavior skills, such as manding, intraverbals, and imitation. The VB-MAPP encompasses skills typically acquired between 0-48 months of age, though it’s important to note this is a criterion-referenced assessment, not a norm-referenced tool.
The VB-MAPP comprises three main assessments: Milestones, Barriers, and Transitions. The Barriers and Transitions assessments are valuable for evaluating a learner’s readiness for transitioning to school and other less restrictive environments.
Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills-Revised (ABLLS-R)
The ABLLS-R is a comprehensive assessment of early learning and language skills. It evaluates 544 skills across 25 domains, including requests, labeling, reading, and math. This assessment is beneficial for early learners who are slower to acquire skills, as it demonstrates incremental change over time.
Assessment of Functional Living Skills (AFLS)
The AFLS is a comprehensive evaluation of a learner’s functional abilities across six protocols: Basic, Home, Community, Vocational, School, and Independent Living Skills. With a wide variation in protocols and skills, clinicians can use this tool with learners from elementary school through adulthood.
Essential for Living (EFL)
The Essential for Living (EFL) assessment includes an assessment and curriculum focusing on evaluating and teaching learning and self-advocacy skills for those with moderate to severe disabilities. It’s beneficial for learners with minimal language skills, those who acquire skills at a slow pace, and/or those who exhibit high rates of behaviors that interfere with learning.
Socially Savvy
This assessment guides clinicians in identifying social skill strengths and skill deficits. Socially Savvy also encompasses a curriculum for teaching social skills to promote positive social interactions.
Inventory of Good Learning Repertoires (IGLR)
The Inventory of Good Learning Repertoires (IGLR) is a comprehensive tool used to evaluate an individual’s readiness to learn. It identifies both behavioral excesses and skill deficits that may interfere with the learning process.
Parenting Stress Index, Fourth Edition (PSI-4)
The PSI-4 is a parent-focused assessment. It’s beneficial in the context of parent training. This tool measures parental stress within the parent-child system. BCBAs can use the results of this assessment to guide their efforts throughout the course of parent training.
Promoting Emergence of Advanced Knowledge (PEAK)
PEAK is an assessment and skill inventory tool. This tool provides behavior analysts with a corresponding curriculum to target the skill deficits identified within the assessment using a relational training approach. The four modules within PEAK include Direct Training, Generalization, Equivalence, and Transformation.
Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, 3rd Edition
The assessments discussed thus far have all been criterion-referenced assessments. However, the Vineland is one norm-referenced tool that is commonly used in ABA. This tool evaluates measures of one’s adaptive, motor, communication, and social skills. While it gives insights about skill domains in which a learner has deficits, it doesn’t offer specific skills needed to develop. The Vineland is most often paired with criterion-referenced skill assessments.
Wrapping Up
Choosing the right assessment is key to creating effective, individualized ABA programs. Each tool offers something different, and selecting the right one for each learner can have an impact on outcomes.
In the next post of this Assessment Series, we’ll take a deeper look at the MOTAS—what it measures, how to use it, and how it can guide your treatment planning. Stay tuned!
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