Using thin-slice ratings to measure social communication in children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

BackgroundThin-slice ratings have been shown to predict a variety of behaviors in children and adults. Recently, thin-slice ratings have been used to characterize social communication and autism symptomatology in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), suggesting their potential as an alternative to intensive observational coding systems. ObjectivesThis study examined whether thin-slice ratings of social communication skills during a parent-child interaction are psychometrically valid, related to observational and standardized measures of child social communication, and sensitive to change over time in children with ASD. MethodsThin-slice ratings for 71 children were completed by 173 undergraduates from a psychology research pool. Groups of naïve raters viewed two-minute clips of parent-child interactions for different children at two time points. For each clip, raters assigned scores for 7 items derived from the Brief Observation of Social Communication Change (BOSCC). ResultsThin-slice rating items formed a unidimensional scale with good internal consistency (α = .92) and inter-rater reliability. The thin-slice rating scale demonstrated convergence with observational data from the BOSCC, as well as other common measures of social communication. Unlike the BOSCC, the thin-slice ratings did not change significantly from Time 1 to Time 2. ConclusionThin-slice ratings of young children with ASD during a parent-child interaction demonstrated criterion validity with the BOSCC and convergent validity with other measures of child social communication functioning. Future studies should investigate whether thin-slice ratings by naïve raters capture other aspects of autism symptomatology. Findings suggest thin-slice ratings may provide a stable estimate of child social communication functioning that tracks with other measures of child developmental functioning.