Abstract：
The purpose of this study was to identify developmental profiles associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and global developmental delay (DD) in pre-school aged Italian children. Developmental profiles were evaluated by means of a standardized tool widely used for the assessment of psychomotor development in early childhood, the Griffiths III scales, recently adapted and standardized for the Italian population. Specifically, we compared the Griffiths III profiles of children with ASD and DD (ASD + DD) with those of children with DD alone. Moreover, we inspected the psychometric function of single items by comparing children with ASD + DD and children with DD with typically developing (TD) children from the Griffiths III normative sample. In this way, we aimed to isolate the effects of each diagnostic class on psychomotor abilities and on the psychometric function of single items. The ASD + DD and DD groups were found to share the presence of lower age equivalent scores relative to their chronological age in all the developmental domains considered: Foundations of Learning, Language and Communication, Eye and Hand Coordination, Personal-Social-Emotional and Gross Motor Skills. However, the DD group displayed a homogeneous profile with similar levels of delay in all developmental domains, while children with ASD + DD exhibited relative weaknesses in the Language and Communication and Personal-Social-Emotional scales. The analysis of the psychometric function drawn for each item has confirmed different profiles in social-communicative and non-verbal items between the two diagnostic groups and in relation to TD normative sample. The Griffiths III is a valid psychometric tool for identifying atypical developmental profiles and its use may be recommended during the diagnostic process of ASD and DD, to detect specific strengths and weaknesses and guide person-centered treatment.
摘要：
这项研究的目的是确定与意大利学龄前儿童自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）和全球发育迟缓（DD）相关的发育概况。通过广泛用于评估幼儿精神运动发育的标准化工具来评估发育状况，格里菲斯三世音阶,最近针对意大利人口进行了调整和标准化。具体来说,我们比较了ASD和DD(ASD+DD)儿童与单纯DD儿童的GriffithsIII资料.此外，我们通过比较患有ASD+DD的儿童和患有DD的儿童与典型发育(TD)的儿童(来自GriffithsIII标准样本),检查了单个项目的心理测量功能.这样,我们旨在分离每个诊断类对心理运动能力和单个项目的心理测量功能的影响。发现ASDDD和DD组在考虑的所有发育领域中，相对于其实际年龄而言，年龄等效分数较低：学习基础，语言与沟通,眼睛和手的协调，个人社会情绪和粗大运动技能。然而,DD组在所有发育领域都显示出相似水平的延迟，而患有ASDDD的儿童在语言和交流以及个人社会情感量表方面表现出相对的弱点。对每个项目绘制的心理测量功能的分析证实了两个诊断组之间以及与TD规范样本相关的社交和非语言项目的不同概况。GriffithsIII是一种有效的心理测量工具，用于识别非典型发育概况，在ASD和DD的诊断过程中可能会推荐使用它。检测具体的优点和缺点，并指导以人为本的治疗。
