Helping Families Move Forward: Using the ATEC to Understand Progress in Autism

Overwhelmed by Autism Advice? The ATEC Helps Families See What’s Working

Families raising children with autism and complex needs are often surrounded by advice.

Try this therapy.

Add this supplement.

Change this support.

Wait and see.

And yet, one question comes up again and again:

“How do we know what’s actually helping our child?”

At Healing Complex Kids®, one of the ways we move families from surviving to thriving is by equipping parents with clear, trustworthy tools that support informed decision-making—not more noise.

That’s why we’re excited to share an important new resource with our community.

We’re Proud to Share Our Free ATEC Guide.

Healing Complex Kids® has received approval from Stephen Edelson, PhD, co-author of the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC), to create and share a FREE ATEC Guide for families.

This approval matters. It ensures families are receiving guidance that respects the integrity and purpose of the ATEC while making it accessible and understandable for everyday use.

What Is the ATEC—and Why Do Families Use It?

The Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) is a widely used, research-based tool designed to help families and professionals track changes over time in areas often impacted by autism, including:

• Communication

• Social interaction

• Sensory and behavioral patterns

• Daily functioning

The ATEC does not diagnose autism, nor does it replace professional care. Instead, it helps families observe patterns and progress in a structured, consistent way.

Families often use the ATEC to:

• Track whether therapies, supports, supplements, or medications may be helping.

• Reduce guesswork when making changes.

• Bring clearer, more organized information into conversations with their child’s care team.

For many families, the ATEC becomes a way to pause, look at the bigger picture, and make decisions with more confidence.

Why We Created This Guide

Families told us they wanted to use the ATEC—but they needed help with the practical parts, including:

• Knowing when to use it and how often to complete it.
• Understanding what changes matter and which ones may not.
• Avoiding overreacting to a single score on a hard week.
• Using the information in a way that supports conversations with their child’s doctors, therapists, and educators.

We created this guide to help families use the ATEC with clarity and confidence, without pressure or guesswork.

Inside the guide, parents and caregivers will learn how to:

• Use the ATEC safely and appropriately.

• Track progress over time instead of focusing on a single score.

• Organize results in a way that supports productive conversations with medical, educational, and therapeutic teams.

This guide is designed to support families wherever they are in their journey—whether they are just getting started or reassessing current supports.

Download the Free ATEC Guide

👉 https://healingcomplexkids.org/atecguide

This resource is free because families deserve access to tools that help them make informed decisions with clarity and confidence.

Watch: Why This Tool Matters

🎥 Watch this short video, where I share why the ATEC matters and how families can use it with confidence:

👉 https://www.instagram.com/healingcomplexkids/reel/DSBYehWgcD_/

An Important Note

This guide is educational and is designed to support—not replace—medical or therapeutic care. It helps families track progress, understand what may be changing, and bring clearer information into decisions with their child’s care team.

You are not meant to figure this out alone. Tools like the ATEC help families move forward with greater clarity, stronger collaboration, and less second-guessing.

With support,

Julie Cadman

Co-Founder & CEO, Healing Complex Kids®