Heterogeneities in Cognitive and Socio-Emotional Development in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Severe Intellectual Disability as a Comorbidity

This study investigated (a) how similar the heterogeneity in the cognitive and socioemotional developmental profiles was for children with ASD and ID, (b) the difference between the subjects’ profiles and those of typically developing children (TD) matched for developmental levels, (c) the skills existing with the lowest and highest developmental levels and (d) the relationship between developmental profiles in ASD and the severity of autism, ID and the overall developmental level. Participants. The sample was comprised of 119 children (101 boys and 18 girls) who ranged in chronological age (CA) from 21 months to 14 years, (M= 5 years 2 months; SD = 2 years 6 months) with developmental levels lower than 24 months. They came from three countries (France = 40, Brazil = 40, Algeria = 39). The control group was comprised of 40 TD children from these same countries who ranged in CA from 4 months to 24 months (M= 1 year 3 months; SD= 5 months). The ASD diagnosis was carried out according to “ICD-10 and DSM-IV-TR and DSM-5 criteria and the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS). Measures. Children were tested using the SCEB (Social Cognitive Evaluation Battery, Adrien, Pearson-ECPA, 2007) by trained psychologists from public and private institutions specialized in the diagnosis of autism and interventions in the field. The SCEB explores 16 functional abilities, in both cognitive and socio-emotional areas and permits the calculation of domain and area developmental levels and heter...
Source: Frontiers in Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research