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Cross-parent reliability in rating ASD markers in infants
Ayelet Ben-Sasson1, Hemda Amit-Ben-Simhon, Sonya Meyer
1Department of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa , Mt. Carmel, Haifa , Israel .
Insights
Fathers reported more autism spectrum disorder (ASD) markers in their infants than mothers, particularly for social communication. Parent agreement was poor for gaze and reactivity items, suggesting challenges in consistent reporting of early ASD signs.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Pediatric Medicine
- Genetics
Background:
- Early identification of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is crucial for timely intervention.
- Parental reports are vital for screening, but congruence between mother and father reports requires investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine agreement and disagreement between mothers and fathers in reporting early autism spectrum disorder (ASD) markers in 12-month-old infants.
- To compare parental perceptions of social-communication and sensory-regulatory behaviors.
Main Methods:
- Mothers (n=80) and fathers (n=78) of 12-month-old infants completed the First Year Inventory (FYI), an ASD screening tool.
- Mothers also completed the Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment (ITSEA).
- Statistical analyses included intra-class correlations, Mann-Whitney tests, and linear weighted kappa analyses.
Main Results:
- Moderate correlations were found between mother and father reports on most FYI factors.
- Fathers reported significantly higher scores than mothers on social-communication and sensory processing factors.
- Agreement was poor for gaze-related and reactivity items, while social-communication and sensory-regulatory factors correlated with ITSEA scores.
Conclusions:
- Parental reporting of social-communication markers for early autism spectrum disorder (ASD) presents greater challenges for consistency than sensory-regulatory markers.
- Discrepancies in parental reporting highlight the need for comprehensive assessment strategies.
Objective:
To investigate the congruence and discrepancies between mother and father reports of early autism spectrum disorders (ASD) markers.
Methods:
Mothers (n = 80) and fathers (n = 78) of 12-month-old infants (55% boys) completed the first year inventory (FYI), an ASD norm-referenced screening questionnaire. Mothers also completed the Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment (ITSEA).
Results:
There were significant and moderate intra-class correlations between mother and father reports for most FYI factors. Fathers' median FYI social-communication domain score was almost twice that of mothers. Mann-Whitney tests indicated that fathers rated their child significantly higher than mothers on the four FYI social-communication factors and on the sensory processing factor. Linear weighted kappa analyses indicated poor agreement on gaze-related and reactivity FYI items. FYI social-communication and sensory-regulatory factors showed significant correlations with corresponding ITSEA scores.
Conclusions:
Social-communication markers pose a greater challenge for consistent report across parents than sensory-regulatory markers.
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