History cont.
In 1944, Hans Asperger describes a
similar group of autistic boys, but
notes no speech delay, the presence of
motor clumsiness, and a late onset of
social deficits.
History cont.
Wolff & Barlow, in 1979, describe a similar
group of children diagnosed with schizoid
personality disorder characteristics
considered to be stable personality traits.
In 1981, Wing translates Aspergers paper
into English and demonstrates the
connection to Kanners 1943 group.
(Ozonoff et al., 2005: Freeman et al., 2002).
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History cont.
In 1989, Rourke describes yet another
group of children who have been
identified as having NVLD
neuropsychological profiles essentially
autistic-like deficits but with welldeveloped rote verbal repertoires.
AS Included In DSM-IV
By 1994, enough varying views of AS
resulted in the consensus that AS
should be included in the DSM-IV
under the category of PDD.
Current Debate In AS
Assessment
How to assess AS vs. other PDDs?
What characteristics overlap?
Are the characteristics inimical only
to AS to permit differential diagnosis,
and, if so, what are they and how to
measure them?
When are these characteristics
capable of accurate measurement?
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DSM-IV-TR
Criteria for AS
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DSM-IV-TR- AS Qualifiers
No clinically significant delay in the onset of:
Language (single words at 2; communicative
phrases -3);
Age-appropriate self-help skills, adaptive behavior
(other than social), and environmental curiosity.
Criteria not met for another PDD or Schizophrenia.
(DSM-IV: American Psychiatric Association, 1994; DSM-IV-TR,
American Psychiatric Association, 2000).
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The ASDS
Developed in 2001.
50 item test, rated as observed (1) or
not observed (0).
Rater needs to be an appropriate
person with regular, sustained contact
with examinee for at least 2 weeks,
(e.g., parent, teacher).
Examiner is person scoring and
interpreting the ASDS results.
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ASDS cont.
Appropriate for ages 5-18
Completion time 10-15 minutes
Scale normed on 115 individuals
from 21 states in the U.S.
Provides standard scores and
percentile ranks
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12
Interrater Reliability
14 AS subjects (mean age 12) rated
by teachers & parents.
The resulting correlation coefficient
for the ASQ calculated was .93
considered strong, statistically
significant, and indicative that
ratings will be similar across different
raters with the same subject.
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14
Content Validity
Item Analysis:
Items on ASDS derived from the DSM-IV,
the ICD-10; AS literature on ERIC and
PsychInfo databases (1975-1999), and
Aspergers 1944 research. 6 resulting
categories combines into 5.
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Item Discrimination
An item analysis was not done at separate
age levels since research indicate that
there is not relationship between age and
ASDS scores.
Item discrimination was tested by the
Pearson item-total-score correlation index,
yielding statistical significance, and
coefficients indicating items wellexceeded minimum criteria for magnitude.
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Criterion Validity
ASDS ability to differentiate amongst
different diagnostic groups.
2 groups: 115 diagnosed with AS;
normative group of 177 with autism,
behavior disorders, ADHD, LD.
Discriminant analysis showed a
statistically significant difference
between the mean ASQ for the AS and
non-AS samples; accuracy of 85%
correct classification.
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Construct ValidityHypotheses
AS characteristics not correlated with age,
so ASQ should not be related to age.
ASDS item characterize AS and should
correlate with total test score
As ASDS measure AS characteristics, it
should not correlate strongly with scale for
autism
ASDS measures AS characteristics and
should differentiate between AS and non-AS
groups.
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Discriminant Validity
Correlated ASDS scores with GARS
scores.
GARS targets autism and ASDS targets
AS.
Correlational coefficient was not
significant, magnitude reported as
moderate.
Thus, conclusions that ASDS and GARS
measure different conditions.
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Group Differentiation
Expectation that each groups results
should make sense: that individuals
not having AS would have ASQ and
subscale scores significantly different
than those having AS
Mean subscale and quotient standard
scores were significantly higher for
those with AS.
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22
ASDS Instructions
Examiners manual includes:
Specific administration & scoring
procedures: computing &
converting raw scores, standard
scores, percentile ranks, and the
resultant Asperger Syndrome
Quotient (ASQ).
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Scoring
Total raw scores converted by table into
%ile and ASQ. (ASQ has a mean of 100
and standard deviation of 15, compares
this individual with others with AS.)
Raw score for each subscale converted
in %ile rank and standards scores.
(Mean of 10, standard deviation of 3).
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Profile
Profile of Scores: scatter plot
graphic plotting of subscale standard
scores and ASQ.
Provides visual assessment of
likelihood of AS and the areas of
strength and weakness.
Higher scores = greater probability of
AS.
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26
27
Early Development
Interview
In addition, the ASDS includes 10 key
questions (also in the questionnaire)
to flesh out additional information on
the onset of symptoms, relative
severity, relativity across settings.
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Limitations cont.
The most significant limitation of the
ASDS is the lack of agreed upon
operational differential diagnostic
components to distinguish AS from or
as a variant of autism, HFA, and PDDNOS.
(Toth & King, 2008; Boggs et al., 2006; Campbell,
J.M., 2005; McConachcie et al., 2005; Ozonoff et al.,
2005; Freeman et al., 2002; Blair, K. A. (2003).
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References
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References cont.
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37
References cont.
Mirenda, P. (2003) Test review of the Asperger Syndrome
Diagnostic Scale. From Plake, B. S., Impara J.. C., & Spies, R.A.
(Eds), The fifteenth
mental measurements yearbook,
[Electronic version]. Retrieved 9/15/2008, from the Buros
Institutes Test reviews Online website:
http://www.unl.edu/buros.
Myles, B.S., Bock, S. J., & Simpson, R. L. (2001). Asperger
Syndrome Diagnostic Scale (ASDS), PRO-ED, Austin, TX.
Ozonoff, S., Goodlin-Jones, B. L., & Solomon, M. (2005).
Evidence-based assessment of autism spectrum disorders in
children and
adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child and
Adolescent Psychology, 34:3, 523-540.
Toth, K., & King, B.H., (2008). Aspergers syndrome: diagnosis
and treatment. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 165:8, 958963.
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