Prevention of absenteeism and school failure in students with ASD: Improving the transition from primary to secondary school

Is an instrument developed by Kearney. C, and Silverman. W to identify maintaining variables of school refusal behaviour, including dimensions of negative and positive reinforcement. It consists of 24 questions that measure the frequency with which a child experience emotion a behaviour related to school attendance. It takes about 10 minutes to complete and it is designed for use with children ages 5 and up.

It is not a scale to measure absenteeism as such, but it is a list of risk factors that may indicate a child is developing EBSR. This list is based on research and practitioners' experience. This list can be used as an indicator. It is especially indicated for absenteeism in school transitions. Young people who present with EBSR show a heightened sensitivity to school experiences of which they cannot maintain personal control. Their anxiety can affect performance, attendance and social contact within school and can develop into fear of social activities out of school and to isolation, even within the family.

It is a brief instrument, in keeping with the need of pragmatic measures. There are 14 possible responses for absenteeism divided into: no problematic absenteeism, school refusal, truancy, school withdrawal and school exclusion and open items for other reasons. The SNACK does not point to specific interventions in the way that the SRAS does. For practitioners, the predominant function of the SNACK is to support efficient identification of the type(s) of SAP in a given case, to facilitate more focused assessment, in turn supporting case conceptualization and intervention.