The Developmental Assessment of Social Communication Ability (DASCA): initial creation and psychometric description

Area of Science:

• Neurodevelopmental disorders
• Child psychology
• Clinical assessment

Background:

• Lack of tools to quantify social communication ability hinders understanding of neurodevelopmental disorders.
• Monitoring treatment outcomes for these disorders requires reliable assessment measures.
• The Developmental Assessment of Social Communication Ability (DASCA) was developed to address this gap.

Purpose of the Study:

• To create the DASCA, a clinical outcome assessment for monitoring social communication ability.
• To track changes in social communication over development and in response to treatment.
• To provide a standardized tool for neurodevelopmental disorder research and clinical practice.

Main Methods:

• A mixed-methods approach was used, incorporating qualitative (focus groups, interviews) and quantitative (IRT, DIF) components.
• An iterative process refined an item bank to assess social communication skills acquired in early to middle childhood.
• Caregiver reports form the basis of the DASCA instrument.

Main Results:

• The final DASCA item bank comprises 184 items.
• Expressive language significantly influenced item appropriateness for specific child groups.
• Minimal differential item functioning was observed, with negligible impact on overall scores.

Conclusions:

• The DASCA shows potential as an outcome measure for social communication ability changes.
• Further validity evidence in independent samples is needed, particularly given pandemic-era data collection.
• Ongoing development aims for a computer adaptive test for sensitive serial assessments.