Evaluation of the Ghuman-Folstein Screen for Social Interaction (SSI)

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Leone, Sarah Lyn
Language:	English
Published:	The Ohio State University / OhioLINK 2009
Subjects:	Psychology autism autism spectrum disorders screen SSI early detection
Online Access:	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1259081774

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spelling	ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu12590817742021-08-03T05:57:22Z Evaluation of the Ghuman-Folstein Screen for Social Interaction (SSI) Leone, Sarah Lyn Psychology autism autism spectrum disorders screen SSI early detection The current diagnostic model of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is characterized by qualitative impairments in social interaction and communication, and the presence of restricted or repetitive behaviors. There are very early signs of social-communication delays that indicate risk for ASD. Several screening instruments have been developed to detect risk for ASD, but few have focused on very young children. The Ghuman-Folstein Screen for Social Interaction (SSI) is a 54-item instrument developed to detect problems with social interactions in very young children. Initial evaluation of the SSI revealed promising reliability estimates, and preliminary support for construct validity. The current study goals included (a) evaluating the SSI’s psychometric properties with a large heterogeneous sample of young children with and without ASD, and (b) shortening the instrument. The SSI was completed in developmental and pediatric clinics by caregivers of children with autism or PDD-NOS, non-ASD developmental or psychiatric disorders, and for typically-developing children. The sample consisted of 450 children between the ages of 24 and 61 months (mean 43.4 months; SD = 10.6). Diagnostic validity analyses were conducted separately for younger (24-42 months) and older participants (43-61 months). In order to evaluate the tool’s factor validity, SSI ratings (n=207) were submitted to exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The relationship of SSI scores to ASD diagnostic measures, age, and developmental level was examined. Diagnostic validity was assessed by comparing SSI scores across different groups. In order to determine optimal sensitivity and specificity, Receiver Operative Characteristic (ROC) curves were used in a number of comparisons between different diagnostic groups with the original and shortened scales. A subset of participants from ASD and non-ASD clinical groups was matched on age and developmental level. Results of the EFA indicated that a four-factor solution best fit the data. The factors had good internal consistency and were labeled Connection to Caregiver, Interaction/Imagination, Social Approach/Interest, and Agreeable Nature. The SSI showed moderate convergence with other ASD diagnostic measures, and little relation to age and developmental level. The SSI and its subscales significantly differentiated diagnostic groups. The Interaction/Imagination subscale produced the highest level of group discrimination, and the Agreeable Nature subscale produced the lowest. Binary logistic regression and item mean scores were used to identify critical items, resulting in the 26-item SSI-T (“Toddler” version, for younger children), and the 21-item SSI-P (“Preschool” version, for older children). In the ROC curve analyses, all sensitivity and specificity levels met or exceeded .79, and .64, respectively, even in the comparisons that controlled for age, developmental level, and verbal ability. The SSI-T and SSI-PS performed better than the full 54-item scale, with less than half the number of items. Scoring recommendations were made based on the ROC results. The SSI is a unique parent-completed Level 2 screen that measures social-communication behaviors in very young children with ASD. This study suggest that the SSI may be a useful screen to discriminate very young children with significant social interaction delays associated with ASD from those with non-ASD developmental delays. 2009 English text The Ohio State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1259081774 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1259081774 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection	NDLTD
language	English
sources	NDLTD
topic	Psychology autism autism spectrum disorders screen SSI early detection
spellingShingle	Psychology autism autism spectrum disorders screen SSI early detection Leone, Sarah Lyn Evaluation of the Ghuman-Folstein Screen for Social Interaction (SSI)
author	Leone, Sarah Lyn
author_facet	Leone, Sarah Lyn
author_sort	Leone, Sarah Lyn
title	Evaluation of the Ghuman-Folstein Screen for Social Interaction (SSI)
title_short	Evaluation of the Ghuman-Folstein Screen for Social Interaction (SSI)
title_full	Evaluation of the Ghuman-Folstein Screen for Social Interaction (SSI)
title_fullStr	Evaluation of the Ghuman-Folstein Screen for Social Interaction (SSI)
title_full_unstemmed	Evaluation of the Ghuman-Folstein Screen for Social Interaction (SSI)
title_sort	evaluation of the ghuman-folstein screen for social interaction (ssi)
publisher	The Ohio State University / OhioLINK
publishDate	2009
url	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1259081774
work_keys_str_mv	AT leonesarahlyn evaluationoftheghumanfolsteinscreenforsocialinteractionssi
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Evaluation of the Ghuman-Folstein Screen for Social Interaction (SSI)

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