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Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Published in: Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders 1/2019

Open Access 01-12-2019 | Autism Spectrum Disorder | Research

Within-task variability on standardized language tests predicts autism spectrum disorder: a pilot study of the Response Dispersion Index

Authors: Abby E. Hare-Harris, Marissa W. Mitchel, Scott M. Myers, Aaron D. Mitchel, Brian R. King, Brittany G. Ruocco, Christa Lese Martin, Judy F. Flax, Linda M. Brzustowicz

Published in: Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders | Issue 1/2019

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Abstract

Background

Qualitatively atypical language development characterized by non-sequential skill acquisition within a developmental domain, which has been called developmental deviance or difference, is a common characteristic of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We developed the Response Dispersion Index (RDI), a measure of this phenomenon based on intra-subtest scatter of item responses on standardized psychometric assessments, to assess the within-task variability among individuals with language impairment (LI) and/or ASD.

Methods

Standard clinical assessments of language were administered to 502 individuals from the New Jersey Language and Autism Genetics Study (NJLAGS) cohort. Participants were divided into four diagnostic groups: unaffected, ASD-only, LI-only, and ASD + LI. For each language measure, RDI was defined as the product of the total number of test items and the sum of the weight (based on item difficulty) of test items missed. Group differences in RDI were assessed, and the relationship between RDI and ASD diagnosis among individuals with LI was investigated for each language assessment.

Results

Although standard scores were unable to distinguish the LI-only and ASD/ASD + LI groups, the ASD/ASD + LI groups had higher RDI scores compared to LI-only group across all measures of expressive, pragmatic, and metalinguistic language. RDI was positively correlated with quantitative ASD traits across all subgroups and was an effective predictor of ASD diagnosis among individuals with LI.

Conclusions

The RDI is an effective quantitative metric of developmental deviance/difference that correlates with ASD traits, supporting previous associations between ASD and non-sequential skill acquisition. The RDI can be adapted to other clinical measures to investigate the degree of difference that is not captured by standard performance summary scores.
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Metadata
Title
Within-task variability on standardized language tests predicts autism spectrum disorder: a pilot study of the Response Dispersion Index
Authors
Abby E. Hare-Harris
Marissa W. Mitchel
Scott M. Myers
Aaron D. Mitchel
Brian R. King
Brittany G. Ruocco
Christa Lese Martin
Judy F. Flax
Linda M. Brzustowicz
Publication date
01-12-2019
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders / Issue 1/2019
Print ISSN: 1866-1947
Electronic ISSN: 1866-1955
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s11689-019-9283-z

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