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.
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.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Pages 1-13
- DOI 10.1007/s10803-011-1280-3
- Authors
- Allison B. Cunningham, Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0109, La Jolla, San Diego, CA 92093-0109, USA
- Journal Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
- Online ISSN 1573-3432
- Print ISSN 0162-3257