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The Effects of Severity of Autism Symptoms on Developmental Trajectories
Children under the age of 3 years old who are experiencing developmental delays or disabilities are legally entitled to receipt of early intervention services, as mandated by Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Although little research has examined publicly available (Part C) early intervention services specifically, several studies have focused on efficacy of a variety of early-delivered programs for children with disabilities. This research suggests that a variety of outcomes (such as cognitive level, early nonverbal communication skills, and early social interaction skills) may relate to developmental growth over time in children receiving these services (Ben-Itzchak & Zachor 2007, Calandrella & Wilcox 2000, Harris & Handleman 2000). However, many potentially important factors that might predict developmental growth, such as symptoms of autism spectrum disorder, have not been explored in detail within a population of children receiving early intervention services.
Objectives:
This study aims to examine the effects of severity of autism symptoms, as measured by the parent rated Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) in the developmental trajectory of social skills, social communication, and adaptive behavior as measured by the Assessment, Evaluation, and Programming System (AEPS). Although it is anticipated that individuals with higher M-CHAT scores will have lower scores on the social communication, social, and adaptive behavior areas of the AEPS, little is known about the effect of M-CHAT scores on developmental trajectory in these areas.
Methods:
Our sample includes 45 children ages 0-3 years enrolled in a center-based early intervention program between 2010 and 2017. Data was collected from review of children’s educational records. We examined the relationship between scores on the M-CHAT (completed by the parent) and two time points (initial and a second time point between 2-9 months after initial) of the AEPS measures (completed by the teacher). We used regression models to predict growth on each AEPS domain using M-CHAT as a predictor variable and initial AEPS score, child age and gender, and time between AEPS assessments as covariates.
Results:
The overall regression models were not able to significantly predict growth on the social and social communication domains of the AEPS. However, there was a significant relationship between severity scores on the M-CHAT and the trajectory of adaptive behavior scores (β=-0.652, p=0.016).
Conclusions:
Surprisingly, M-CHAT scores did not predict gains over time in the social or social communication domains. We theorize that immersion of socialization within a group setting, as well as the emphasis on improving social and social communication skills for children who show heightened symptoms of autism, may buffer these areas of weakness for children with heightened ASD symptoms. However, adaptive skills that require more independence and complexity may not be focused on in group early intervention settings. It is our hope that this research will help improve early intervention services by increasing the understanding of the developmental trajectory of individuals receiving early intervention services, with specific implications on the need for adaptive skills intervention.