Validation of the Pictorial Infant Communication Scale for preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorder

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Speech-Language Pathology

Background:

• Joint attention is vital for social communication and often impaired in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
• Existing parent-report measures assess broad social communication, while targeted joint attention assessment is typically time-intensive.
• A need exists for efficient, parent-report tools to specifically measure joint attention skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the psychometric properties of the Pictorial Infant Communication Scale (PICS).
• To evaluate PICS as an efficient parent-report measure for joint attention in preschool-aged children, particularly those with ASD.

Main Methods:

• The study assessed the psychometric properties of the Pictorial Infant Communication Scale.
• Confirmatory factor analysis was used to support the underlying factor structure.
• Concurrent validity was examined by correlating PICS scores with direct clinical measures.

Main Results:

• The Pictorial Infant Communication Scale demonstrated high internal consistency and strong intercorrelations between subscales.
• Confirmatory factor analysis supported a three-factor model of joint attention.
• Significant correlations were found between PICS scores and measures of child joint attention, language, and ASD symptom severity.

Conclusions:

• The Pictorial Infant Communication Scale is a psychometrically sound and promising tool for measuring joint attention.
• PICS can effectively complement structured assessments in evaluating early social communication development.
• This scale offers an efficient method for assessing joint attention skills in preschool children with ASD.