Assessing Autism Spectrum Disorder in People with Sensory Impairments Combined with Intellectual Disabilities

• Published in: Journal of developmental and physical disabilities Vol. 30; no. 4; pp. 471 - 487
• Main Authors: de Vaan, Gitta, Vervloed, Mathijs P. J., Peters-Scheffer, Nienke C., van Gent, Tiejo, Knoors, Harry, Verhoeven, Ludo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.08.2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Autism; Autism Spectrum Disorders; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Child and School Psychology; Childhood; Intellectual disabilities; Intellectual Disability; Interrater Reliability; Original; Original Article; Pediatrics; Pervasive developmental disorders; Psychology; Psychometrics; Public Health; Quantitative psychology; Rating Scales; Reliability; Validity; Visual impairment; Visual Impairments; Observation; Sensory impairments; Intellectual disabilities; Multiple disabilities; Autism spectrum disorder; Assessment
• ISSN: 1056-263X; 1573-3580
• DOI: 10.1007/s10882-018-9597-x

People with sensory impairments combined with intellectual disabilities show behaviours that are similar to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The instrument Observation of Autism in people with Sensory and Intellectual Disabilities (OASID) was developed to diagnose ASD in this target group. The current study focuses on the psychometric properties of OASID. Sixty individuals with intellectual disabilities in combination with visual impairments and/or deafblindness participated in this study. The OASID assessment was administered and rated by three independent observers. By means of expert consensus cut-off scores for OASID were created. To determine the concurrent validity OASID was compared with the Pervasive Developmental Disorder for People with Mental Retardation (PDD-MRS) and the Childhood Autism Rating Scale second edition (CARS-2). The intra-rater reliability, the inter-rater reliability, internal consistency and concurrent validity of OASID were good to excellent. Cut-off scores were established based on criteria from the DSM-5. OASID was able to differentiate between four severity levels of ASD.