A Comparison of the BASC-2 Preschool Version in Toddlers and Preschool Children with ASD and Other Developmental Delays

Background:  The Behavioral Assessment System for Children, Second Edition (BASC-2), is a comprehensive rating system that identifies adaptive and maladaptive patterns of behavior in youth between the ages of 2-21 years. A number of studies have examined the utility of score profiles on clinical (e.g., Anxiety, Atypicality) and adaptive (e.g., Social Skills, Adaptability) scales on the BASC-2 Parent Rating Scales (PRS) for identifying school-aged children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, few studies have examined the utility of broad behavioral measures for differentiating toddlers and preschool children with ASD from youth with other developmental delays.

Objectives: The purpose of this project is to test the hypothesis that the BASC-2 Preschool clinical and adaptive scales will differentiate toddlers and preschool children with ASD from youth with other developmental delays. 

Methods: As part of a larger test battery, BASC-2 Preschool PRS were completed by the primary caregivers of 120 youth 24-61 months old (M = 34.78, SD= 9.54) referred for evaluation after they screened positive on an ASD screener (M-CHAT-R) or caregivers and/or pediatricians raised concerns regarding ASD. Of those children, 82 were diagnosed with ASD and 38 were diagnosed with other developmental delays (Other DD). Diagnoses for individuals with ASD were confirmed by expert clinicians using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule and structured parent interviews. Two multivariate analyses of covariance (MANCOVAs) were run to determine if scores on the clinical and adaptive scales of the BASC-2 differed between groups, including age as a covariate.

Results: No significant differences were found between the ASD group and the Other DD group in regard to sex χ² (1, N=120) = 1.93, p>.05 or ethnicity χ² (1, N=117) = .01, p>.05. The ASD group received significantly higher scores on the clinical scales than the Other DD group, F (8, 110) = 3.53, p<.001, Wilk’s Λ = .80, η²= .20. Post-hoc individual ANCOVAs revealed that the ASD group had significantly higher scores than the Other DD group on the Attention Problems (F [1, 117] = 9.05, p=.003), Atypicality (F [1, 117] = 6.08, p=.015), and Withdrawal (F [1, 117] = 14.59, p<.001) scales. There were no significant differences between the ASD group and the Other DD group on adaptive scales, F (4, 113) = 1.92, p>.05, Wilk’s Λ = .94.

Conclusions: The present data indicate that toddlers and preschool children with ASD may demonstrate distinct patterns of clinical behaviors on the BASC-2 compared to youth with other developmental delays. Specifically, youth with ASD were rated as having more challenging behaviors on the Attention Problems, Atypicality, and Withdrawal scales. These results suggest that young children with ASD may be at a greater risk for certain behavioral difficulties compared to youth with other developmental delays; this supports previous research examining the emergence of challenging behaviors in youth with ASD and other developmental delays. Early interventions for youth with ASD may be able to target these challenging behaviors and in turn reduce or prevent the continuation of these behaviors by the time the children enter the school system.