Abstract
We investigated the social validity of the NECC Core Skills Assessment (NECC-CSA) with parents and professionals as participants. The NECC-CSA is a measurement tool consisting of direct and indirect measures of skills important to all individuals with autism, across the lifespan. Participants (N = 245) were provided with a list of 66 skills, 47 of which were Core Skills from the NECC-CSA, and were asked to indicate which items they considered to be foundational. Participants endorsed items from the NECC-CSA as foundational skills, more than they endorsed the other items. Differences between parents and professionals are described and detailed with respect to individual assessment items. The NECC-CSA consists of socially validated skills that can be taken as a starting point for programs of instruction for individuals with ASDs.
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Notes
There are 48 Core Skills on the Core Skills Assessment. Forty-seven were assessed here because two of them are very similar to one another: “Matches pictures to objects” was included in the survey, and “Matches objects to pictures” was excluded.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Beth Bellone and Susan Langer for their assistance in conducting this study, and we thank the parents and professionals who volunteered their participation. We also thank Brian Ayotte for his assistance with statistical analysis and interpretation.
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Dickson, C.A., MacDonald, R.P.F., Mansfield, R. et al. Social Validation of the New England Center for Children-Core Skills Assessment. J Autism Dev Disord 44, 65–74 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1852-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1852-5