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Measuring Change in Social Interaction Skills of Young Children with Autism

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Abstract

Designing effective treatments for improving early social behaviors in autism has been identified as a critical research need. One barrier to drawing conclusions about optimal treatments for children with autism is the use of highly varied dependent measures in the treatment literature. Contributing to this is the absence of “gold standard” assessment batteries. This is particularly true for assessing changes in social interaction impairments in very young children with autism. This paper addresses this issue by reviewing variables important in the development and evaluation of assessment measures, discussing previous studies’ choices of socially-related dependent measures, and the strengths, limitations, and research questions pertaining to them. It concludes with recommendations for measurement selection and future directions for research.

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Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to Drs. Mark Appelbaum, Laura Schreibman, and Aubyn Stahmer for input on an earlier draft of this paper.

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  1. Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0109, La Jolla, San Diego, CA, 92093-0109, USA

    Allison B. Cunningham

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Correspondence to Allison B. Cunningham.

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Preparation of this paper was facilitated by U.S.P.H.S. Research Grant MH#39434 from the National Institute of Mental Health.

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Cunningham, A.B. Measuring Change in Social Interaction Skills of Young Children with Autism. J Autism Dev Disord 42, 593–605 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-011-1280-3

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