Abstract:
Evidence suggests core autism trait consistency in older children, but development of these traits is variable in early childhood. The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) measures autism-related traits and broader autism phenotype, with two age-dependent forms in childhood (preschool, 2.5-4.5 years; school age, 4-18 years). Score consistency has been observed within forms, though reliability across forms has not been evaluated. Using data from the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program (n = 853), preschool, and school-age SRS scores were collected via maternal report when children were an average of 3.0 and 5.8 years, respectively. We compared reproducibility of SRS total scores (T-scores) and agreement above a clinically meaningful cutoff (T-scores ≥ 60) and examined predictors of discordance in cutoff scores across forms. Participant scores across forms were similar (mean difference: 3.3 points; standard deviation: 7), though preschool scores were on average lower than school-age scores. Most children (88%) were classified below the cutoff on both forms, and overall concordance was high (92%). However, discordance was higher in cohorts following younger siblings of autistic children (16%). Proportions of children with an autism diagnoses were also higher among those with discordant scores (27%) than among those with concordant scores (4%). Our findings indicate SRS scores are broadly reproducible across preschool and school-age forms, particularly for capturing broader, nonclinical traits, but also suggest that greater variability of autism-related traits in preschool-age children may reduce reliability with later school-age scores for those in the clinical range.
摘要:
证据表明,年龄较大的儿童的核心自闭症特征一致性,但是这些特征的发展在儿童早期是可变的。社会反应量表(SRS)测量自闭症相关特征和更广泛的自闭症表型,在童年时期有两种年龄依赖性形式(学龄前,2.5-4.5岁;学龄,4-18岁)。在表格中观察到分数一致性,尽管尚未评估跨表单的可靠性。使用来自环境对儿童健康结果的影响(ECHO)计划的数据(n=853),幼儿园,和学龄儿童SRS评分是通过产妇报告收集的,当孩子平均为3.0和5.8岁时,分别。我们比较了SRS总分(T分数)的可重复性和超过临床意义的截止值(T分数≥60)的一致性,并检查了不同表格截止分数不一致的预测因素。不同形式的参与者得分相似(平均差:3.3分;标准差:7),尽管学前成绩平均低于学龄成绩。大多数儿童(88%)在两种形式上都被归类为低于临界值,总体一致性较高(92%)。然而,在自闭症儿童的年轻兄弟姐妹之后的队列中,不一致率较高(16%)。诊断为自闭症的儿童比例在得分不一致的儿童中(27%)也高于得分一致的儿童(4%)。我们的研究结果表明,SRS分数在学龄前和学龄期表格中具有广泛的可重复性,特别是为了捕捉更广泛的,非临床特征,但也提示学龄前儿童自闭症相关特征的更大变异性可能会降低临床范围内的学龄评分的可靠性.