The purpose of this study was to examine the measurement properties of the Social Responsiveness Scale in an accelerated longitudinal sample of 4-year-old preschool children with the complementary approaches of categorical confirmatory factor analysis and Rasch analysis. Measurement models based on the literature and other hypothesized measurement…

While the typical developing children show signs of symbolic play in the first two years of life, children with autism may never develop this skill. This deficit in play has implication for other areas of development. What is more? Play is correlated with language ability in both typically developing children and children with ASD. Play in…

This study presents a collaborative research project by school psychologists and educators in Hong Kong. It investigated the coping strategies used by Chinese parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders ("N"?=?380) to enhance their children's community integration and how these strategies were related to their perceptions of…

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by notable phenotypic heterogeneity, which is often viewed as an obstacle to the study of its etiology, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. On the basis of empirical evidence, instead of three binary categories, the upcoming edition of the DSM 5 will use two dimensions--social…

The number of young children with autism is ever-increasing, and school psychologists are more frequently required to identify these students. Valid screening tools are needed in order to focus school psychologists' time on those students in need of intensive evaluations in Early Intervention programs. The purpose of this study was to examine the…

The goal of this study was to develop and subsequently evaluate the internal construct and criterion-related validity of the Preschool Imitation and Praxis Scale (PIPS). Different task characteristics were selected considered to be important as unravelled in research in apraxic adults to tap a broad range of possible imitation mechanisms.…

In one volume, this authoritative reference presents a current, comprehensive overview of intellectual and cognitive assessment, with a focus on practical applications. Leaders in the field describe major theories of intelligence and provide the knowledge needed to use the latest measures of cognitive abilities with individuals of all ages, from…

Validity studies of measures for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) for use with preschool children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are lacking. The Child Behavior Checklist 1.5-5 (CBCL; Achenbach and Rescorla, Manual for the ASEBA Preschool Forms & Profiles. VT: University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth, and…