title: Using the brief observation of social communication change (BOSCC) to measure autism-specific development.
abstract: To date no reliable and objective, change sensitive instrument for autistic symptoms is available. The brief observation of social communication change (BOSCC) was specifically developed to measure change of core autistic symptoms, for example, for use as outcome measure in early intervention trials. This study investigated quality criteria of a preliminary research version of the BOSCC in N = 21 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who had participated for 1 year in the Frankfurt early intervention program (FFIP). BOSCC rating was done on play based ADOS video scenes. Inter-rater agreement on the BOSCC average total was very high. The BOSCC showed a significant decrease of autistic symptoms after 1 year with a medium effect size. Symptom specific improvements were captured by the social communication subscale and most single items. The BOSCC showed comparable change sensitivity to other autism specific instruments. Future studies should focus on the finalized BOSCC version, and replicate findings in a larger sample. Autism Res 2016, 9: 940-950. © 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Autism Research and Intervention Center of Excellence Frankfurt, University hospital, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main. Janina.Kitzerow@kgu.de.
authors.forename: Janina
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kitzerow
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Autism Research and Intervention Center of Excellence Frankfurt, University hospital, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main.
authors.forename: Karoline
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Teufel
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Autism Research and Intervention Center of Excellence Frankfurt, University hospital, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wilker
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Autism Research and Intervention Center of Excellence Frankfurt, University hospital, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main.
authors.forename: Christine M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Freitag
mesh_terms: D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D000067289:Behavior Observation Techniques; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018479:Early Intervention, Educational; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010865:Pilot Projects; D000067404:Social Communication Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*
keywords: BOSCC; FFIP; autism-specific outcome; change measurement; early intervention