Efficacy of Brief Quantitative Measures of Play for Screening for Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

Quick and effective screening measures are needed for detecting Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Thirty typically developing children and 30 children with ASD aged 24-68 months were used. This study explored if the ASD group would exhibit less object exploration, diversity of play, and turn-taking than the typically developing group. Older children with ASD performed less turn-taking. On all other measures, IQ accounted for more of the difference between groups than diagnosis. Implications of these results for future research are discussed.

Value-Added Predictors of Expressive and Receptive Language Growth in Initially Nonverbal Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorders

“…Within the cognitively-oriented theories, potential sources for language variation in children with ASD include child-level variation in: (a) the ability to coordinate attention between a referent of communication and the communication partner, (b) object knowledge (a source of communication topics), and (c) symbolic or representational abilities (Chawarska et al 2012; Clifford and Dissanayake 2009; Rodman et al 2010; Thiemann-Borque et al 2012; Walton and Ingersoll 2013). Within the socially-oriented theories, variation in social motivation, attention to others, and theory of mind have been cited as sources of variation in language of children with ASD (e.g., Camaioni 1997; Dawson et al 1998; Ingersoll and Meyer 2011; Klin et al 2003; Mundy and Newell 2007; Paul et al 2007; Senju 2013; Tomasello et al 2005; Wetherby and Prutting 1984).…”

Examining the relationship between social communication on the ADOS and real-world reciprocal social communication in children with ASD

“…Social play also enables children to learn about culture and gain insight into the minds of others that is needed to form friendships (Jordan, 2003). Previous studies (Rodman et al, 2010) have looked at ADOS-G scores in relation to play in younger children. Their findings suggest that preschool-aged children with ASD who had a greater diversity of play, more object exploration, and more turn-taking in their play had lower scores on the ADOS-G, indicating less ASD symptomology.…”

Evaluating Evidence-Based Instruction for Children with Asperger Syndrome

“…Second, diagnostic issues are discussed along with tools for assessing educational/treatment needs of neuroatypical learners and choosing appropriate instructional settings for instruction, integrated classroom, special class, community site, or residential treatment (Cohen, Gomez et al, 2010, Cohen, Tsiouris et al, 2010Odom, Boyd, Hall, & Hume, 2010a ;Odom, Boyd, Hall, & Hume, 2010b ;Rodman et al, 2010 ;Sawyer et al, 2010 ).…”

“…Personalized instruction focuses fi rst on the student characteristics, present skill sets, neurology, behavior patterns, defi cits and strengths in all aspects of student role, psychopharmacological benefi t, developmental history, previous performance, and other personal data. The ability to describe the student comes before choosing the curricula and developing strategies (Reichow & Volkmar, 2010 ;Rodman et al, 2010 ).…”

“…Individuals with pervasive developmental delay may fall within a range from mentally defi cient to bright or intellectually gifted. In one study of young children, IQ scores accounted for more differences between groups than did diagnoses (Rodman et al, 2010 ) on measures of object exploration, diversity of play, and taking turns on tasks. IQ data is helpful within an overall developmental perspective (Ingersoll, 2010 ;Jones & Campbell, 2010 ;RussellSmith, Maybery, & Bayliss, 2010 ;Villa et al, 2010 ).…”