title: Validation of the Pictorial Infant Communication Scale for preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorder.
abstract: Joint attention, or the shared focus of attention between objects or events and a social partner, is a crucial milestone in the development of social communication and a notable area of deficit in children with autism spectrum disorder. While valid parent-report screening measures of social communication are available, the majority of these measures are designed to assess a wide range of behaviors. Targeted assessment of joint attention and related skills is primarily limited to semi-structured, examiner-led interactions, which are time-consuming and laborious to score. The Pictorial Infant Communication Scale is an efficient parent-report measure of joint attention that can be used as a complement to structured assessments in fully characterizing early social communication development. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Pictorial Infant Communication Scale. Results revealed a high degree of internal consistency and strong intercorrelations between subscales. Additionally, confirmatory factor analysis supported a three-factor model of joint attention. Furthermore, significant correlations between the Pictorial Infant Communication Scale and direct clinical measures of child joint attention, language skills, and autism spectrum disorder symptom severity were suggestive of concurrent validity. Findings suggest that the Pictorial Infant Communication Scale is a promising tool for measuring joint attention skills in preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorder.
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Miami, USA.|2 Emory University School of Medicine, USA.
authors.forename: Christine S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Ghilain
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Miami, USA.
authors.forename: Meaghan V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Parlade
authors.affiliation: 3 East Tennessee State University, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: McBee
authors.affiliation: 4 Massachusetts General Hospital, USA.
authors.forename: Drew C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Coman
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Miami, USA.
authors.forename: Taylor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Owen
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Miami, USA.
authors.forename: Anibal
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gutierrez
authors.affiliation: 5 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Boyd
authors.affiliation: 5 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Odom
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Miami, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alessandri
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D066107:Social Skills; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: autism spectrum disorder; communication; coordinated joint attention; measurement; parent report