Computer Adaptive Testing of Adaptive Behavior of Children and Youth with Autism

描述(由申请者提供)：该项目是对《恢复法限制竞争：解决自闭症谱系障碍异质性的研究》(RFA-MH-09-172)的响应。拟议的项目将确定新修订的适用于患有自闭症的儿童和青年的计算机自适应版本的儿童和青少年自闭症儿童和青少年(PEDI-CAT)的适用性、可靠性和有效性。在第一阶段的工作中，我们将让患有自闭症的儿童和青少年的父母以及从事这一群体工作的专业人员参与评估当前儿童-CAT的适应行为项目库。我们将集中讨论两个主要问题：1)鉴于自闭症的独特特征，是否有家长难以回答的项目；以及2)是否需要额外的项目来全面反映受自闭症影响较大的日常生活领域。来自审查的数据将用于修改或编写要测试的新项目，作为新项目池的一部分。在第二阶段的工作中，我们将进行一项基于网络的研究，从600名3至21岁患有自闭症的儿童和青少年的父母那里获得儿科-CAT数据(包括对新项目的反应)。然后，我们将使用项目反应理论(IRT)方法来校准这些项目，并评估新的适应行为项目的表现。这个样本的数据将被用来为患有ASD的儿童和青年建立一个改进的儿科CAT，并检查ASD CAT产生的估计分数与管理整个题库获得的分数之间的关系。我们还将检查ASD样本中的项目，正如从标准样本得出的IRT模型所预测的那样。该项目的主要目标是在测量患有自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)的儿童和青少年的适应行为方面取得重大进展。有了简单而准确的日常功能评估，儿童自闭症(ASD)将极大地提高有关患有自闭症的儿童和青少年适应行为的信息质量。这一新仪器将能够更灵敏地跟踪儿童和青少年这一关键结果的变化，并检查这一人群核心症状变化与功能结果之间的关系。 公共卫生相关性：儿科自闭症(ASD)将通过对家庭和社区的日常功能提供简短但准确、心理健康的评估，促进ASD研究和临床服务的重大进步。该工具将极大地提高有关自闭症儿童和青少年适应行为的信息质量，并使更敏感地跟踪这一关键结果在整个童年和青春期的变化。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project is in response to the Recovery Act Limited Competition: Research to Address the Heterogeneity in Autism Spectrum Disorders (RFA-MH-09-172). The proposed project will determine the applicability, reliability, and validity of the newly revised computer-adaptive version of the PEDI (PEDI-CAT) for children and youth with ASD. In the first phase of work we will involve parents of children and youth with ASD as well as professionals working with this population to evaluate the adaptive behavior item pool of the current PEDI-CAT. We will focus on two major questions: 1) Whether there are items that would be difficult for parents to answer, given the unique features of ASD and 2) Whether additional items are needed to fully represent the areas of daily life more affected by ASD. Data from the reviews will be used to modify or write new items to be tested as part of a new item pool. In the second phase of work we will conduct a web-based study to obtain PEDI-CAT data (including responses to new items) from 600 parents of children and youth with ASD between the ages of 3 and 21 years. We will then calibrate the items using item-response theory (IRT) methods and evaluate the performance of the new adaptive behavior items. The data from this sample will be used to build a modified PEDI-CAT for children and youth with ASD and to examine the relation between estimated scores generated from the ASD CAT and those obtained from administering the entire item pool. We will also examine items from the ASD sample perform as would be predicted from the IRT model derived from the normative sample. The primary objective of this project is to achieve a major advance in the measurement of adaptive behavior in children and youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Availability of a brief and precise assessment of daily function, the PEDI-CAT (ASD) will greatly improve the quality of information obtained on the adaptive behavior of children and youth with ASD. This new instrument will enable more sensitive tracking of change in this critical outcome across childhood and adolescence as well as examination of the relation between variations in core symptoms and functional outcomes in this population. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The PEDI-CAT (ASD) will facilitate significant advances in ASD research and clinical services by providing a brief but precise, psychometrically sound assessment of daily function in home and community. The instrument will greatly improve the quality of information obtained on the adaptive behavior of children and youth with ASD and make possible more sensitive tracking of changes in this critical outcome across childhood and adolescence.