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Testing Sensory and Multisensory Function in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Published on: April 22, 2015
Brief Report: Associations Between Preverbal Social Communication Skills, Language and Symptom Severity in Children
Lauren J Taylor1, Tony Charman2,3, Patricia Howlin2
1Department of Psychology, King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Henry Wellcome Building, 16 De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, UK. lauren.taylor@kcl.ac.uk.
Abstract:
We investigated the early sociocognitive battery (ESB), a novel measure of preverbal social communication skills, in children with autism participating in the Paediatric Autism Communication Trial-Generalised (PACT-G). The associations between ESB scores, language and autism symptoms were assessed in 249 children aged 2-11 years. The results show that ESB subscale scores (social responsiveness, joint attention and symbolic comprehension) were significantly associated with concurrent autism symptoms and receptive and expressive language levels. The pattern of association between the ESB subscale scores differed between the ADOS-2 symptom domains and expressive and receptive language. These findings indicate the potential utility of the ESB as a measure of preverbal social communication in children with autism.
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