Social motivation in individuals with ASD is inferred from the observation of overt behaviors and neurological correlates. Motivation, however, can be distinguishable from overt behavior and neurologic reactivity. Nevertheless, few studies have examined the cognitive processes that may influence goal-directed tasks involved in social interaction.…

The Social skills Observation Measure (SOM) is a direct observation method for social skills used in naturalistic everyday situations in school. This study describes the development of the SOM and investigates its psychometric properties in 86 children with Autism spectrum disorder, aged 9.8-13.1 years. The interrater reliability was found to be…

Twenty-nine youth with autism spectrum disorders and 26 with typical development between 12 and 18 years of age were engaged in structured interviews (ADOS). The interviews were videotaped and rated for atypical conversational behaviors by trained raters, using the Pragmatic Rating Scale (Landa et al. "Psychol Med" 22:245-254, 1992). The ASD group…

The factor structure of the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) algorithm items was examined using exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) factor methods. The ADI-R was completed for 1,170 youths and adults (ages 2-46). Results of EFAs indicated strong support for two-factor structure, with social communication and…