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Brief Report: Predictors of Teacher-Rated Academic Competence in a Clinic Sample of Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

The rising prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) necessitates a greater understanding of the academic experience of diagnosed children. The present study investigates several predictors of teacher-reported academic competence among a sample of elementary school children. All children in the sample were referred for an ASD evaluation and approximately half received a diagnosis. Children with and without ASD did not differ on overall academic competence, social skills, or problem behaviors. Regression analyses indicated that cognitive ability, social skills, and problem behaviors accounted for significant variance in academic competence. Moderation analyses indicated that the relations between the predictors and academic competence were comparable for children with and without ASD. Implications and future directions are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by a Grant from the New York State Department of Education C00002GG. We thank Kristin Knapp-Ines for her contribution to sample characterization. The current manuscript was prepared from a Master’s Thesis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Autism and Related Disabilities, University at Albany, State University of New York, 1535 Western Avenue, Albany, NY, 12203, USA

    Anna Milgramm, Kristin V. Christodulu & Melissa L. Rinaldi

Authors
  1. Anna Milgramm
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  2. Kristin V. Christodulu
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  3. Melissa L. Rinaldi
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Contributions

AM conceived of the study, completed statistical analyses, and drafted the manuscript; KVC supervised the study and provided manuscript revisions; MLR contributed to data collection, supervised the study, and provided manuscript revisions. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Anna Milgramm.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the Ethical Standards of the Institutional Research Committee of the University at Albany, State University of New York and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Data used in this study came from participants who completed a comprehensive psychological evaluation for autism spectrum disorder at a university-affiliated autism center. Deidentified data were analyzed retrospectively and Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval for the use of this existing data was obtained. Because existing data were analyzed retrospectively, a waiver of informed consent for use of existing data was also obtained from the IRB.

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Milgramm, A., Christodulu, K.V. & Rinaldi, M.L. Brief Report: Predictors of Teacher-Rated Academic Competence in a Clinic Sample of Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 51, 2132–2138 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04680-4

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