title: The Social Communication Assessment for Toddlers with Autism (SCATA): an instrument to measure the frequency, form and function of communication in toddlers with autism spectrum disorder.
abstract: The Social Communication Assessment for Toddlers with Autism (SCATA) was designed to measure non-verbal communication, including early and atypical communication, in young children with autism spectrum disorder. Each communicative act is scored according to its form, function, role and complexity. The SCATA was used to measure communicative ability longitudinally in two samples of toddlers with autism spectrum disorder. Overall frequency of non-verbal communicative acts did not change between the two assessments. However, the form and complexity, the function and the role the child took in the interaction did change with time. Both frequency and function of communicative acts in toddlerhood were positively associated with later language ability: social acts, comments and initiations showed greater predictive association than requests and responses.
authors.affiliation: Newcomen Centre, Guy's Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Auriol
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Drew
authors.forename: Gillian
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Baird
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Milne
authors.forename: Tony
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Charman
mesh_terms: D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004493:Education; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D007807:Language Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009633:Nonverbal Communication; D010988:Play and Playthings / Q000523:psychology; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012919:Social Behavior