The Adapted ADOS: A New Module Set for the Assessment of Minimally Verbal Adolescents and Adults

Bal, Vanessa H.; Maye, Melissa; Salzman, Emma; Huerta, Marisela; Pepa, Lauren; Risi, Susan; Lord, Catherine

doi:10.1007/s10803-019-04302-8

Cited by 35 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…ASD diagnoses were confirmed with the ADOS‐2 or A‐ADOS [Bal et al, 2019; Lord et al, 2012] and the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) [Rutter, Bailey, & Lord, 2003], completed by parents. Non‐verbal IQ was assessed with the Leiter International Performance Scales‐Revised (Leiter‐R) [Roid & Miller, 1997], and adaptive behavior was assessed using the parent questionnaire version of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale‐2 (VABS‐2) [Sparrow, Cicchetti, & Balla, 2005].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eliciting Language Samples for Analysis (ELSA): A New Protocol for Assessing Expressive Language and Communication in Autism

et al. 2020

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Expressive language and communication are among the key targets of interventions for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and natural language samples provide an optimal approach for their assessment. Currently, there are no protocols for collecting such samples that cover a wide range of ages or language abilities, particularly for children/adolescents who have very limited spoken language. We introduce a new protocol for collecting language samples, eliciting language samples for analysis (ELSA), and a novel approach for deriving basic measures of verbal communicative competence from it that bypasses the need for time‐consuming transcription. Study 1 presents ELSA‐adolescents (ELSA‐A), designed for minimally and low‐verbal older children/adolescents with ASD. The protocol successfully engaged and elicited speech from 46 participants across a wide range of ages (6;6–19;7) with samples averaging 20–25 min. The collected samples were segmented into speaker utterances (examiner and participant) using real‐time coding as one is listening to the audio recording and two measures were derived: frequency of utterances and conversational turns per minute. These measures were shown to be reliable and valid. For Study 2, ELSA was adapted for younger children (ELSA‐Toddler [ELSA‐T]) with samples averaging 29 min from 19 toddlers (2;8–4;10 years) with ASD. Again, measures of frequency of utterances and conversational turns derived from ELSA‐T were shown to have strong psychometric properties. In Study 3, we found that ELSA‐A and ELSA‐T were equivalent in eliciting language from 17 children with ASD (ages: 4;0–6;8), demonstrating their suitability for deriving robust objective assessments of expressive language that could be used to track change in ability over time. We introduce a new protocol for collecting expressive language samples, ELSA, that can be used with a wide age range, from toddlers (ELSA‐T) to older adolescents (ELSA‐A) with ASD who have minimal or low‐verbal abilities. The measures of language and communication derived from them, frequency of utterances, and conversational turns per minute, using real‐time coding methods, can be used to characterize ability and chart change in intervention research. Lay Summary We introduce a new protocol for collecting expressive language samples, ELSA, that can be used with a wide age range, from toddlers (ELSA‐T) to older adolescents (ELSA‐A) with autism spectrum disorder who have minimal or low‐verbal abilities. The measures of language and communication derived from them, frequency of utterances and conversational turns per minute, using real‐time coding methods, can be used to characterize ability and chart change in intervention research.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eliciting Language Samples for Analysis (ELSA): A New Protocol for Assessing Expressive Language and Communication in Autism

et al. 2020

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“…Participants who did not use multiclause functional speech or complex sentences, but rather single words and simple phrase speech, were classified as ASD‐MLV ( N = 47) and were administered the ADOS Module 1 or 2. ASD‐MLV participants aged 5 to 12 ( n = 24) were assessed with the ADOS‐2 [Lord et al, 2012], while participants aged 12 to 21 ( n = 23) were assessed with the Adapted ADOS—an ADOS version designed to provide more age‐appropriate materials for minimally and low verbal adolescents and adults [Bal et al, 2020]. The remainder of participants used multiclause functional and complex speech and were classified as ASD‐V ( N = 36).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atypical Perception of Sounds in Minimally and Low Verbal Children and Adolescents With Autism as Revealed by Behavioral and Neural Measures

et al. 2020

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The common display of atypical behavioral responses to sounds by individuals with autism (ASD) suggests that they process sounds differently. Within ASD, individuals who are minimally or low verbal (ASD-MLV) are suspected to have greater auditory processing impairments. However, it is unknown whether atypical auditory behaviors are related to receptive language and/or neural processing of sounds in ASD-MLV. In Experiment 1, we compared the percentage of time 47 ASD-MLV and 36 verbally fluent (ASD-V) participants, aged 5-21, displayed atypical auditory or visual sensory behaviors during the administration of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). In Experiment 2, we tested whether atypical auditory behaviors were more frequent in ASD-MLV participants with receptive language deficits. In Experiment 3, we tested whether atypical auditory behaviors correlated with neural indices of sensitivity to perceptual sound differences as measured by the amplitude of neural responses to nonspeech intensity deviants. We found that ASD-MLV participants engaged in atypical auditory behaviors more often than ASD-V participants; in contrast, the incidence of atypical visual behaviors did not differ between the groups. Lower receptive language skills in the ASD-MLV group were predicted by greater incidence of atypical auditory behaviors. Exploratory analyses revealed a significant negative correlation between the amount of atypical auditory behaviors and the amplitude of neural response to deviants. Future work is needed to elucidate whether the relationship between atypical auditory behaviors and receptive language impairments in ASD-MLV individuals results from disruptions in the brain mechanisms involved in auditory processing.

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“…Fifty ASD participants (28 ASD‐V, 22 ASD‐MLV) were enrolled in this study and their data were collected over one to four lab visits. The clinical diagnosis was confirmed with the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), Second Edition Modules 3 and 4 [Lord et al, 2012] for ASD‐V participants and Adapted ADOS Modules 1 and 2 [Bal et al, 2020] for ASD‐MLV participants, administered and scored by an ADOS research‐reliable experimenter. Group assignment was based on expressive language [Bal, Katz, Bishop, & Krasileva, 2016].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural Evidence for Speech Processing Deficits During a Cocktail Party Scenario in Minimally and Low Verbal Adolescents and Young Adults with Autism

et al. 2020

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As demonstrated by the Cocktail Party Effect, a person's attention is grabbed when they hear their name in a multispeaker setting. However, individuals with autism (ASD) are commonly challenged in multispeaker settings and often do not respond to salient speech, including one's own name (OON). It is unknown whether neural responses during this Cocktail Party scenario differ in those with ASD and whether such differences are associated with expressive language or auditory filtering abilities. We measured neural responses to hearing OON in quiet and multispeaker settings using electroencephalography in 20 minimally or low verbal ASD (ASD-MLV), 27 verbally fluent ASD (ASD-V), and 27 neurotypical (TD) participants, ages 13-22. First, we determined whether TD's neural responses to OON relative to other names could be quantified with early frontal mismatch responses (MMRs) and late, slow shift parietal and frontal responses (LPPs/ FNs). Second, we compared the strength of MMRs and LPPs/FNs across the three groups. Third, we tested whether participants with poorer auditory filtering abilities exhibited particularly weak neural responses to OON heard in a multispeaker setting. Our primary finding was that TDs and ASD-Vs, but not ASD-MLVs, had significant MMRs to OON in a multispeaker setting, and strength of LPPs positively correlated with auditory filtering abilities in those with ASD. These findings reveal electrophysiological correlates of auditory filtering disruption within a clinical population that has severe language and communication impairments and offer a novel neuroimaging approach to studying the Cocktail Party effect in neurotypical and clinical populations.

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The Adapted ADOS: A New Module Set for the Assessment of Minimally Verbal Adolescents and Adults

Cited by 35 publications

References 21 publications

Eliciting Language Samples for Analysis (ELSA): A New Protocol for Assessing Expressive Language and Communication in Autism

Eliciting Language Samples for Analysis (ELSA): A New Protocol for Assessing Expressive Language and Communication in Autism

Atypical Perception of Sounds in Minimally and Low Verbal Children and Adolescents With Autism as Revealed by Behavioral and Neural Measures

Neural Evidence for Speech Processing Deficits During a Cocktail Party Scenario in Minimally and Low Verbal Adolescents and Young Adults with Autism

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