Assessment of social behavior in children with autism: The development of the Behavioral Assessment of Social Interactions in Young Children

Abstract

There are a limited number of assessments available to examine social skills deficits in young children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). The Behavioral Assessment of Social Interactions in Young Children (BASYC) was developed as a direct assessment of social deficits in young children with ASD relative to children without ASD. The BASYC is a semi-structured assessment designed to be administered by clinicians and teachers working with children with a possible ASD. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the BASYC discriminates social behaviors between children with and without ASD. There were 77 participants ( n = 48 children with ASD; n = 29 children without ASD) in this study. Scores on the BASYC significantly predict group membership. Sensitivity and specificity of the BASYC was .977 and .871, respectively. Item discrimination indices revealed that the majority of items on the Social Responsivity scale discriminated well between groups; however, this was not the case for the Social Initiation scale. Although additional research is required, the BASYC is currently an instrument that is easy to administer, discriminates well between children with and without ASD based on social behaviors and may assist in goal planning and monitoring of social skills treatment progress.