1
|
Zheng S, Kaat A, Farmer C, Thurm A, Burrows CA, Kanne S, Georgiades S, Esler A, Lord C, Takahashi N, Nowell KP, Will E, Roberts J, Bishop SL. Corrigendum: Bias in measurement of autism symptoms by spoken language level and non-verbal mental age in minimally verbal children with neurodevelopmental disorders. Front Psychol 2022; 13:1051464. [PMID: 36324772 PMCID: PMC9621315 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1051464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2022] [Accepted: 09/30/2022] [Indexed: 03/02/2024] Open
Abstract
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.927847.].
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Shuting Zheng
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Aaron Kaat
- Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Cristan Farmer
- Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Phenotyping Service, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Audrey Thurm
- Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Phenotyping Service, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Catherine A. Burrows
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States
- Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States
| | - Stephen Kanne
- Center for Autism and the Developing Brain, Weill Cornell Medical College, White Plains, NY, United States
| | - Stelios Georgiades
- Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - Amy Esler
- Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States
| | - Catherine Lord
- UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior, Center for Autism Research and Treatment, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Nicole Takahashi
- Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States
| | - Kerri P. Nowell
- Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States
- Department of Health Psychology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States
| | - Elizabeth Will
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, United States
| | - Jane Roberts
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, United States
| | - Somer L. Bishop
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Zheng S, Kaat A, Farmer C, Thurm A, Burrows CA, Kanne S, Georgiades S, Esler A, Lord C, Takahashi N, Nowell KP, Will E, Roberts J, Bishop SL. Bias in measurement of autism symptoms by spoken language level and non-verbal mental age in minimally verbal children with neurodevelopmental disorders. Front Psychol 2022; 13:927847. [PMID: 35967726 PMCID: PMC9372407 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.927847] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2022] [Accepted: 07/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Increasing numbers of children with known genetic conditions and/or intellectual disability are referred for evaluation of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), highlighting the need to refine autism symptom measures to facilitate differential diagnoses in children with cognitive and language impairments. Previous studies have reported decreased specificity of ASD screening and diagnostic measures in children with intellectual disability. However, little is known about how cognitive and language abilities impact the measurement of specific ASD symptoms in this group. We aggregated a large sample of young children (N = 1196; aged 31-119 months) to examine measurement invariance of ASD symptoms among minimally verbal children within the context of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) Module 1. Using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and moderated non-linear factor analysis (MNLFA), we examined how discrete behaviors were differentially associated with the latent symptom domains of social communication impairments (SCI) and restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRB) across spoken language levels and non-verbal mental age groupings. While the two-factor structure of SCI and RRB held consistently across language and cognitive levels, only partial invariance was observed for both ASD symptom domains of SCI and RRB. Specifically, four out of the 15 SCI items and one out of the three RRB items examined showed differential item functioning between children with "Few to No Words" and those with "Some Words"; and one SCI item and one RRB item showed differential item functioning across non-verbal mental age groups. Moreover, even after adjusting for the differential item functioning to reduce measurement bias across groups, there were still differences in ASD symptom domain scores across spoken language levels. These findings further underscore the influence of spoken language level on measurement of ASD symptoms and the importance of measuring ASD symptoms within refined spoken language levels, even among those with minimal verbal abilities.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Shuting Zheng
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Aaron Kaat
- Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Cristan Farmer
- Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Phenotyping Service, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Audrey Thurm
- Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Phenotyping Service, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Catherine A. Burrows
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States
- Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States
| | - Stephen Kanne
- Center for Autism and the Developing Brain, Weill Cornell Medical College, White Plains, NY, United States
| | - Stelios Georgiades
- Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - Amy Esler
- Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States
| | - Catherine Lord
- UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior, Center for Autism Research and Treatment, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Nicole Takahashi
- Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States
| | - Kerri P. Nowell
- Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States
- Department of Health Psychology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States
| | - Elizabeth Will
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, United States
| | - Jane Roberts
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, United States
| | - Somer L. Bishop
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Abstract
BACKGROUND The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) is a parent-completed screening questionnaire often used to measure autism spectrum disorders (ASD) severity. Although child characteristics are known to influence scores from other ASD-symptom measures, as well as parent-questionnaires more broadly, there has been limited consideration of how non-ASD-specific factors may affect interpretation of SRS scores. Previous studies have explored effects of behavior problems on SRS specificity, but have not addressed influences on the use of the SRS as a quantitative measure of ASD-symptoms. METHOD Raw scores (SRS-Raw) from parent-completed SRS were analyzed for 2,368 probands with ASD and 1,913 unaffected siblings. Regression analyses were used to assess associations between SRS scores and demographic, language, cognitive, and behavior measures. RESULTS For probands, higher SRS-Raw were associated with greater non-ASD behavior problems, higher age, and more impaired language and cognitive skills, as well as scores from other parent report measures of social development and ASD-symptoms. For unaffected siblings, having more behavior problems predicted higher SRS-Raw; male gender, younger age, and poorer adaptive social and expressive communication skills also showed small, but significant effects. CONCLUSIONS When using the SRS as a quantitative phenotype measure, the influence of behavior problems, age, and expressive language or cognitive level on scores must be considered. If effects of non-ASD-specific factors are not addressed, SRS scores are more appropriately interpreted as indicating general levels of impairment, than as severity of ASD-specific symptoms or social impairment. Additional research is needed to consider how these factors influence the SRS' sensitivity and specificity in large, clinical samples including individuals with disorders other than ASD.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Vanessa Hus
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, MI, USA.
| | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|