Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Sabatos-DeVito, Maura, PhD
• Rardin, Benjamin P., BS
• Paisley, Elizabeth, MSW
• Major, Samantha T., BS
• Stoute, Charlotte, BA
• Murias, Michael, PhD
• Compton, Scott N., PhD
• Davlantis, Katherine S., PhD
• Dawson, Geraldine, PhD

Titel

1.23 THE UTILITY OF OBJECTIVE MEASURES OF SOCIAL COMMUNICATION DEFICITS IN YOUNG CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER

Ist Teil von

• Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2016-10, Vol.55 (10), p.S107-S107

Ort / Verlag

Baltimore: Elsevier Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2016

Quelle

Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts (ASSIA)

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Objectives: Social communication deficits are central to DSM-5 criteria for ASD. Few objective, quantitative, and computerized methods exist for measuring these symptoms. We examined the use of eye gaze tracking (EGT) and an automated measure of language at home in preschoolers with ASD by assessing correlations among these measures, parent reports, and direct measures of social communication. Methods: Subjects (N = 25; mean age = 4.47 years; nonverbal IQ = 64.3 ± 24.6) were diagnosed with ASD [Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (ADOS-2); Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R)]. Measures included EGT during a video of dyadic bids with Tobii TX300; the Language Environmental Analysis (LENA) system, which computes adult/child vocalizations and conversational turns; child engagement states during parent-child play; parent reports of social communication [Vineland Adaptive Behaviors Scales (VABS); PDD Behavior Inventory (PDDBI)]; and cognitive assessments [Expressive One Word (EOW) Vocabulary; Stanford Binet/Mullen Scales of Early Learning]. Results: EGT outcomes were correlated significantly, positively with PDDBI Expressive and Expressive/Receptive Social Communication Composites (r = 0.66-0.71, P ≤ 0.001-0.0001), VABS Expressive CommunicationComposite (r = 0.69, P < 0.001; r = 0.76, P < 0.0001), communication (r = 0.63, P < 0.01; r = 0.65, P < 0.001), and socialization (r = 0.64, P = 0.001; r = 0.67, P < 0.001) standard scores but were not correlated with autism severity (PDDBI Autism Composite, ADOS-2 Comparison score; r = -0.09 to -0.28, P = 0.19-0.67). LENA outcomes (e.g., conversational turns) were correlated positively, significantly with VABS communication (r = 0.416-0.691, P ≤ 0.05-0.0001) and socialization (r = 0.55-0.682, P ≤ 0.01-0.0001) standard scores, nonverbal IQ, and EOW scores, but not ADOS-2 severity. For EGT, more time attending was associated with better LENA outcomes (r = 0.45-0.58, P ≤ 0.01-0.03) and coordinated engagement with parents (r = 0.53, P < 0.01; r = 0.39, P = 0.07), whereas less time attending was related to unengaged and lower-level engagement with parents (r = -0.71 to -0.42, P ≤ 0.01-0.05). Conclusions: EGT and LENA were strongly correlated with each other and with parent-reported and observed social communication skills. Both were relatively low burden on staff time and well tolerated by children and may have utility as objective measures of a core aspect of ASD in clinical trials.