RESUMEN
The current study examines the efficacy of an 8-week pretend play intervention targeting social-cognitive abilities in children with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), ages 6-9. PWS is a rare disorder associated with various social, emotional, and cognitive challenges linked to pretend play impairments, and for which interventions are sparse. Nineteen children were quasi-randomized to receive the intervention or be part of a waitlist control group. Participants who received the intervention (n = 10) demonstrated significant improvements in various components of pretend play, most notably in organization of play, which may generalize to broader social-cognitive gains. These findings provide evidence of the intervention's efficacy in enhancing pretend play skills and related social-cognitive abilities during this critical period of development for children with PWS.
Asunto(s)
Síndrome de Prader-Willi , Humanos , Síndrome de Prader-Willi/terapia , Masculino , Femenino , Niño , Juego e Implementos de Juego , Ludoterapia/métodos , Cognición Social , Habilidades SocialesRESUMEN
PURPOSE: Accurate assessment of cognitive development of young children is a vital component of developmental evaluations. Direct assessment of developmental skills is not always feasible, but there is limited information on the agreement between direct assessment and caregiver-reported cognitive skills. There is limited information regarding the accuracy of the parent-reported Developmental Profile 4 (DP-4) in comparison to the widely-used developmental measure, the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Fourth Edition (Bayley-4). The purpose of the current study was to evaluate whether a standardized parent interview can effectively identify children at risk for cognitive developmental delays. METHODS: We compared the agreement between the Bayley-4 Cognitive and the Developmental Profile 4 (DP-4) in young children being evaluated in-person for early developmental delays. 182 children (134 with an autism diagnosis), ages 6-42 months, completed both assessments. RESULTS: Results showed that Bayley-4 Cognitive scores had a moderately strong correlation with DP4-Cognitive scores (r = 0.70, p < 0.001). A cutoff of 70 or 69 on the DP-4 Cognitive was determined as ideal for identifying developmental delay based on diagnosis of global developmental delay or the Bayley-4 Cognitive. CONCLUSIONS: Our analyses revealed good agreement between DP-4 and Bayley-4 Cognitive scores, even after controlling for confounding variables such as degree of ASD characteristics, age, and sex. These results suggest that caregiver-report measures can be a valid and useful tool in the assessment of young children, particularly when direct developmental assessment is not feasible.
RESUMEN
This study provided preliminary validation of the Autism Detection in Early Childhood-Virtual (ADEC-V) for telehealth assessment of possible autism. Participants were 121 children (24.79% female) aged 18-47 months who completed telehealth evaluations at a large pediatric hospital in the Midwestern United States between October 2020 and February 2021. The ADEC-V showed good sensitivity (0.82) and specificity (0.78) and was significantly correlated with other ASD symptom measures (i.e., CARS-2, ADI-R). Internal consistency was acceptable (α = 0.77). These results need replication in a larger and broader sample including more children without ASD. This preliminary validation study identifies the ADEC-V as a promising measure for telehealth ASD assessments in young children.