Assessing Social Communication and Measuring Changes in Chinese Autistic Preschoolers: A Preliminary Study Using the Social Communication Scale.

Purpose: Assessing social communication and measuring its changes among young autistic children presents significant challenges, particularly when tracking intervention effects within short timeframes. Existing measures, mostly validated in Western contexts, may not be suitable for culturally diverse populations. Addressing this gap, the Social Communication Scale (SCS) was developed to provide a culturally accessible and reliable measure for the Chinese population. This study explores the psychometric properties of the SCS and its ability to capture intervention-induced changes.

Method: Fifty-two autistic children aged 2-5 years were recruited from China. One parent per family participated in a 20-week support program aimed at enhancing parents' communication strategies to prompt social communication with their children at home. The SCS was administered before and after the program.

Results: The SCS exhibited outstanding overall interrater reliability (ICC = .91) and convergent validity with established measures, including the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Second Edition, the Communication subdomain of the Mullen Scales of Early Learning, and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales-Third Edition. Notably, the SCS effectively captured subtle changes during the 20-week intervention.

Conclusions: As the first social communication scale developed for Chinese autistic preschoolers, the SCS proves to be a reliable and valid measure. This addresses unique challenges in autism assessment and intervention in China. To strengthen its broader applicability, future research should prioritize validating the SCS with larger and more diverse samples across various regions, contributing to a comprehensive understanding of its value and limitations.

Supplemental material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.28569035.