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

描述（由申请人提供）：该项目是在响应恢复法案有限竞争：研究解决自闭症谱系障碍（RFA-MH-09-172）的异质性。拟议的项目将确定适用性，可靠性和有效性的新修订的计算机自适应版本的PEDI（PEDI-CAT）的儿童和青少年与ASD。在第一阶段的工作中，我们将邀请ASD儿童和青少年的父母以及与这一人群合作的专业人士来评估当前PEDI-CAT的适应行为项目库。我们将重点关注两个主要问题：1）是否有家长难以回答的问题，鉴于ASD的独特特征，以及2）是否需要额外的项目来充分代表更受ASD影响的日常生活领域。来自评审的数据将用于修改或编写新项目，以作为新项目池的一部分进行测试。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ASD儿童和青少年的父母那里获得PEDI-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）方法校准项目，并评估新的自适应行为项目的性能。来自该样本的数据将用于构建ASD儿童和青少年的改良PEDI-CAT，并检查ASD CAT生成的估计分数与管理整个项目池获得的分数之间的关系。我们还将检查ASD样本中的项目表现与来自规范样本的IRT模型预测的一样。该项目的主要目标是在自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童和青少年的适应行为测量方面取得重大进展。PEDI-CAT（ASD）对日常功能进行了简要而精确的评估，将大大提高ASD儿童和青少年适应行为的信息质量。这一新工具将能够更敏感地跟踪儿童和青少年时期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：PEDI-CAT（ASD）将通过提供对家庭和社区日常功能的简短但精确的心理测量学评估，促进ASD研究和临床服务的重大进展。该工具将大大提高获得的关于ASD儿童和青少年适应行为的信息质量，并可能更敏感地跟踪整个童年和青春期这一关键结果的变化。

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.