101 Session 1
Papers Topic - Children With Autism Advancing Comprehensive Early Childhood Intervention
P1.04 Complementarity Between Parents and Professionals in the Assessment of Portuguese Children With ASD
Presenting Author: Helena Reis (Portugal) Affiliation: Polytechnic of Leiria, Portugal Co-Authors: Helena Filipa Lima Gonçalves, Ana Paula Silva Pereira
P1.06 Validation of the Early Communication Indicator for Autism: A New Tool to Progress Monitor the Co-Authors: Adoración Antolí Cabrera, Fátima Cuadrado Hidalgo, Carolina Pérez Dueñas, Araceli Sánchez Raya Differentiating autism from Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) in early childhood remains a clinical challenge. This study investigated social attentional processes through eye-tracking to aid differential diagnosis. Visual scanning patterns (VSP) were examined in 69 children aged 32–74 months, divided into autistic, DLD, and non-clinical groups. An eye-tracking paired-preference task was used, varying stimulus type (face/object), object relevance (related/non-related to autistic interests), and emotional expression (neutral, happy, angry). VSP was evaluated using three indices: prioritization (attentional orientation), preference (total time spent looking at a stimulus), and duration (depth of processing). Results showed that autistic children exhibited intact attentional orientation toward social stimuli, with greater object engagement than DLD peers. Prioritization and preference measures successfully differentiated clinical from non-clinical groups. Findings highlight distinct attentional profiles, emphasizing their diagnostic relevance. These insights contribute to refining our understanding of attentional processes and enhancing clinical practices for early identification of autism and DLD. Autistic children’s early social-communication and language skills predict their functioning into adolescence and even adulthood. Yet, most validated social-communication measures in autism were designed to characterize this domain and not detect change over time. The Early Communication Indicator for Autism (ECI-A) was designed as a data-driven decision- making tool to monitor children’s communication progress and intervention response. The ECI-A is a 10-minute adult-child observational measure and was validated in a sample of ~400 autistic children, ages 12 to 60 months. The ECI-A can be administered in any language if the observer understands the language the parent and child are speaking. Reliability and validity data for the measure are sound, suggesting this is a psychometrically valid measure. The relatively low burden to administer and score, coupled with the ability to administer the measure in children’s familiar settings, makes the ECI-A a tool that can be used within early intervention contexts. Communication of Autistic Children Presenting Author: Brian A. Boyd (USA) Affiliation: University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Co-Authors: Jay Buzhardt, Sallie Nowell, Jessica Dykstra Steinbrenner P1.05 Exploring Social Attention in Autism and Developmental Language Disorder in Early Childhood: Differences and Preserved Abilities This study aims to compare the assessments made by early childhood intervention professionals and the families of children with ASD, aged between 3 and 6 years old. The instrument used for this study was the “Assessment Scale for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder” by Reis, Pereira, and Almeida (2014). The sample consisted of 77 children aged between 3 and 6 with ASD in mainland Portugal. The following results stand out: discrepancies in the assessments made by professionals and families; parents have a more positive assessment of their children's social communication; and gender is a variable that influences the results of the assessments, with a more positive assessment in female children. These results reinforce the importance of collaboration between professionals and families in the assessment process, valuing relationships, respect, and recognition of the family as a crucial element in this process. Presenting Author: Julia Vacas Ruiz (Spain) Affiliation: University of Córdoba, Spain
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