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The Verbal Behavior Development Assessment--Revised: Convergent and Divergent Validity in a Sample of Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Title: The Verbal Behavior Development Assessment--Revised: Convergent and Divergent Validity in a Sample of Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Language: English
Authors: Jessica Singer-Dudek (ORCID 0000-0003-0149-1107), Lin Du, Ashley Greer, Andrew Dakopolos, Laudan Jahromi, Marla Brassard, R. Douglas Greer
Source: Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities. 2023 35(6):987-1005.
Availability: Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 19
Publication Date: 2023
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Descriptors: Autism Spectrum Disorders, Preschool Children, Child Development, Verbal Development, Validity, Measures (Individuals), Psychometrics, Adjustment (to Environment), Behavior Rating Scales, Diagnostic Tests, Observation, Check Lists, Parent Child Relationship, Mothers, Play, Applied Behavior Analysis
Assessment and Survey Identifiers: Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Child Behavior Checklist
DOI: 10.1007/s10882-023-09888-7
ISSN: 1056-263X
1573-3580
Abstract: The Early Learner Curriculum and Achievement Record (ELCAR, Greer et al., 2020) is a criterion-referenced curriculum and assessment of children's development of language and social repertoires from the earliest foundational observing responses to advanced verbal repertoires. The developmental cusps or stages identified in the ELCAR have been validated and replicated through rigorous single-subject studies, but the assessment's convergent and divergent validity with traditional psychometric measures of similar and dissimilar constructs have not been investigated. In the present study, we compared one component of the ELCAR, the Verbal Behavior Development Assessment--Revised (VBDA-R), to four traditional psychometric measures as well as observed joint attention between 42 mother-child dyads within a free play setting. The preschoolers attended a full day applied behavior analysis (ABA) school that served children with autism spectrum and related disorders. The VBDA-R demonstrated convergent validity with the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale--3 (Vineland-3) Teacher Rating Form Communication domain, Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule--2 (ADOS-2) module, and observed child-initiated joint attention (IJA). It demonstrated divergent validity with the Sensory Experience Questionnaire (SEQ), Child Behavior Checklist externalizing scale (CBCL/1.5-5), and child response to mother-initiated joint attention (RJA).
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2024
Accession Number: EJ1431001
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0173979782;jdp01dec.23;2023Dec05.07:39;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0173979782-1">The Verbal Behavior Development Assessment-Revised: Convergent and Divergent Validity in a Sample of Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder </title> <p>The Early Learner Curriculum and Achievement Record (ELCAR, Greer et al., 2020) is a criterion-referenced curriculum and assessment of children's development of language and social repertoires from the earliest foundational observing responses to advanced verbal repertoires. The developmental cusps or stages identified in the ELCAR have been validated and replicated through rigorous single-subject studies, but the assessment's convergent and divergent validity with traditional psychometric measures of similar and dissimilar constructs have not been investigated. In the present study, we compared one component of the ELCAR, the Verbal Behavior Development Assessment-Revised (VBDA-R), to four traditional psychometric measures as well as observed joint attention between 42 mother–child dyads within a free play setting. The preschoolers attended a full day applied behavior analysis (ABA) school that served children with autism spectrum and related disorders. The VBDA-R demonstrated convergent validity with the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale-3 (Vineland-3) Teacher Rating Form Communication domain, Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 (ADOS-2) module, and observed child-initiated joint attention (IJA). It demonstrated divergent validity with the Sensory Experience Questionnaire (SEQ), Child Behavior Checklist externalizing scale (CBCL/1.5–5), and child response to mother-initiated joint attention (RJA).</p> <p>Copyright comment Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.</p> <p>Given the communication impairments that many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience, assessments that are both valid and useful to a range of practitioners working in educational settings (e.g., speech/language therapists, teachers, school psychologists) are necessary to measure, evaluate, and monitor educational progress. Equally important are assessments that provide results that can be interpreted and are actionable by professionals across a variety of disciplines. Behavior analysts working in school settings rely on assessments that provide measures of behavioral objectives to a specified mastery criterion, as opposed to standardized assessments that sample behaviors (e.g., adaptive behaviors, achievement tests) or assess constructs that are not directly observed (e.g., sensory reactivity). Criterion-referenced assessments are not specifically designed to provide diagnostic information; rather, they are useful in identifying skills a child has mastered (i.e., strengths) as well as curricular areas in which they are deficient and therefore in need of instruction or intervention. Examples of criterion-referenced assessments used by behavior analysts include the Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills-Revised (ABLLS-R; Partington, [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref1">27</reflink>]) and the Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP; Sundberg, [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref2">36</reflink>]).</p> <p>The <emph>Early Learner Curriculum and Achievement Record</emph> (ELCAR, Greer et al., [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref3">14</reflink>]) is a criterion-referenced assessment that is also a curriculum. It includes an inventory of repertoires from a variety of curricular domains, including communication, academic, social, leisure, and physical development. A previous version of the ELCAR, the <emph>Preschool Inventory of Repertoires for Kindergarten</emph> (PIRK, Greer & McCorkle, [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref4">10</reflink>]) has been empirically demonstrated to identify missing or deficit repertoires and indicate valid educational objectives. McGarrell et al. ([<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref5">23</reflink>]) reported findings from six children diagnosed with ASD who received intensive behavioral intervention on curricular objectives found to be absent during the PIRK assessment. They found that all six were successfully integrated into mainstream settings after children received instruction on the curricular objectives indicated by the PIRK over a span of 3–4 years.</p> <p>Waddington and Reed ([<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref6">38</reflink>]) compared the PIRK to other validated measures, including The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale (Sparrow et al., [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref7">34</reflink>]). Their findings demonstrated that the PIRK was effective for assessing and teaching children diagnosed with ASD critical skills required for them to be successfully included in mainstream educational settings. Specifically, the children who were assessed and instructed using the PIRK demonstrated more improvement in behavior management and social skills when compared to a similar group attending local schools that did not employ the PIRK. A second study demonstrated that children who received the PIRK curriculum made statistically significant improvements on all subscales of the Vineland, including Communication, Daily Living Skills, and Composite Adaptive Behavior Scale, whereas those receiving non-PIRK curricula did not. These findings indicate the PIRK curriculum may have strong utility in preparing students with ASD for mainstream settings.</p> <p>As effective as criterion-referenced assessments can be in identifying valid curricular objectives, some theorists assert that it is important to view curricular progress in terms of verbal behavior development because progress on curricular objectives is dependent upon the achievement of critical verbal behavior developmental milestones or cusps (Greer & Keohane, [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref8">9</reflink>]; Greer & Ross, [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref9">12</reflink>]; Greer & Speckman, [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref10">13</reflink>]; Greer et al., [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref11">11</reflink>]; Pohl et al., [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref12">29</reflink>]). A developmental cusp is defined by Rosales-Ruiz and Baer ([<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref13">31</reflink>]) as "behavior changes, sometimes simple, sometimes complex, that systematically cause other, further, not formally programmed behavior changes that are significant either because of their breadth or because of their importance to the organism or its species." (p. 537). Within this theoretical framework, cusps allow learning to occur; when cusps are missing, subsequent development is not possible. The presence or absence of cusps informs areas in which children may experience learning difficulties and directly affects which curricular objectives can be taught.</p> <p>Such a measure of preverbal and verbal cusps, The Verbal Behavior Development Assessment-Revised (VBDA-R; Greer, [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref14">8</reflink>]), is incorporated into the ELCAR. The VBDA-R is "an assessment of the development of listening, speaking, writing, editing, algorithmic, and social functions of language from infancy to independence" (Greer, [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref15">8</reflink>], p. 2). The VBDA-R is not arranged based on chronological age but rather is designed according to a developmental trajectory. The VBDA-R is used by professionals to determine which verbal behavior developmental cusps the child has in their repertoire at any given time so that curricular objectives, like those found in the PIRK. can be selected accordingly.</p> <p>While this approach is compelling in the field of behavior research, our colleagues in psychology and speech pathology typically rely on traditional psychometric findings to establish the validity of the measures they use. These divergent approaches to assessment have a) left the psychometric soundness of applied behavior analysis (ABA) measures unrecognized by non-ABA professionals and b) created a gulf in understanding and appreciation of all the tools available by ABA and other professionals serving children with disabilities.</p> <p>In traditional psychometrics, a test's construct validity (evidence that it measures what it's claimed to measure) is commonly established (in part) by demonstrating that it is highly correlated with measures of similar repertoires (i.e., word reading) known as convergent validity and minimally correlated with dissimilar repertoires (e.g., number copying speed) known as divergent validity. No studies of convergent and divergent validity using traditional psychometric measures of comparable repertoires to those identified in the VBDA-R assessment have been published. This is an important gap because behaviorally valid ABA measures may not be accepted by other professionals working with young children unless their traditional psychometric properties are known, particularly the measures' convergent validity with conventional, established measures of similar skills. To that end, the present study is the first attempt to provide such information using a traditional psychometric approach to establish convergent and divergent validity for the VBDA-R. Measures administered had been originally selected to address the shared and individual research interests of a team of ABA, developmental, and school psychologists. We administered the VBDA-R along with four other psychometric tools: Communication domain of the <emph>Vineland Adaptive Behavior Skills- Third Edition</emph> – <emph>Teacher Form</emph> (Vineland-3; Sparrow et al., [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref16">35</reflink>]); <emph>Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule – Second Edition</emph><bold>(</bold>ADOS-2; Lord et al., [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref17">18</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref18">19</reflink>]); <emph>Sensory Experience Questionnaire</emph> (SEQ; Baranek, [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref19">3</reflink>]); and <emph>Child Behavior Checklist</emph> (CBCL/1.5–5; Achenbach & Rescorla, [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref20">1</reflink>]) Externalizing scale. Joint attention (JA) was measured by observing parent–child interactions during free play using an adapted version of the <emph>Early Social Communication Scales</emph> (Mundy et al., [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref21">24</reflink>]). The first goal of the current study was to test the convergent validity of the VBDA-R using both teacher reports of language development (e.g., Vineland-3 Communication) and observational measures of social communication (e.g., joint attention) as well as the ADOS-2 module used to assess the child, due to their common emphasis on language development. Secondly, the study tested divergent validity between the VBDA-R and the SEQ and the CBCL/1.5–5 as these assessments, measuring sensory reactivity and disruptive behavior problems, respectively, are conceptually distinct from language development.</p> <p>Because we were primarily interested in language development in this study, only the scores from the Communication domain of the Vineland-3 were analyzed. A previous study compared another behaviorally based language assessment tool, <emph>Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Relational Training System—Direct Training Module</emph> (PEAK-DT; Malkin, et al., [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref22">21</reflink>]), with all domains of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Second Edition (Vineland-2) except the maladaptive behavior scale. The researchers found that scores from the two assessments were moderately correlated (<emph>r</emph> = 0.453, <emph>p</emph> < 0.05), leading us to predict that the VBDA-R may also correlate highly with the Communication domain of a later version of the Vineland used in the present study (Vineland-3).</p> <p>There is further conceptual justification for assessing convergence with the Vineland-3 Communication domain scale. The VBDA-R covers preverbal, verbal, and beginning reader and writer cusps that correspond with areas assessed by the Vineland-3 as it includes both receptive and expressive domains, referred to in the VBDA-R as listener and speaker repertoires respectively. The Vineland-3 also includes a section on writing, which contains many reading responses. The VBDA-R primarily lists these repertoires as print cusps, assessing beginning reader and writer repertoires.</p> <p>In some cases, instances of listener and receptive language and speaker and expressive language appear to be equivalent. For example, when a child selects (by pointing or picking up) a stimulus (object or picture) from an array upon hearing its name, they are emitting a listener response. This behavior can also be characterized as a "receptive" response. When a child names an object in view, they are said to be emitting a "speaker" response or using "expressive" language. However, there are also important distinctions between these constructs. Primarily, from the verbal behavior theoretical perspective on language development, listener and speaker cusps are defined by their <emph>function</emph> for the individual, whereas "receptive" and "expressive" serve as labels used to refer to the structure of language. This can be illustrated by some of the items in the Vineland-3, where some of the Receptive language items, such as, "Responds to questions that use <emph>who</emph> or <emph>when</emph>," would be considered speaker responses from a verbal behavior standpoint because they involve spoken production responses. There are several items such as this in the Vineland-3 Receptive Language section, that may affect how closely the two assessments align.</p> <p>The ADOS-2 provides information on the communication, social interaction, play/imagination, and restricted and repetitive behaviors that are associated with a diagnosis of ASD (Lord et al., [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref23">18</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref24">19</reflink>]). It consists of five modules, including Toddler Modules and Modules 1 to 4. The selection of the module to use is primarily based on the child's expressive language level observed by the examiner during the ADOS-2 assessment and secondarily on their chronological age. Module 1 is designed for individuals who are preverbal or using single words, Module 2 for individuals with phrase speech, Module 3 for children and young adolescents with fluent speech, and Module 4 for older adolescents and adults with fluent speech. Given the established criteria for choosing modules based on children's language level, we hypothesize the ADOS-2 module administered will be positively correlated with the level of verbal behavior in the VBDA-R.</p> <p>Measures of social communication, particularly joint attention, also offer meaningful convergent links with the VBDA-R. Joint attention can be conceptualized as the ability to coordinate attention with a social partner (Mundy & Newell, [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref25">26</reflink>]) and takes on two primary forms: Responding to joint attention (RJA), which is the ability to follow the gaze and gestures of others in order to share a common referent, and initiating joint attention (IJA), which refers to an individual's use of gestures and eye contact to direct others' attention to objects, events or themselves (Mundy & Newell, [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref26">26</reflink>]). Given that joint attention is a critical developmental skill that is conceptualized as a precursor to, and promoter of, subsequent language development, it serves as a measure of an important set of preverbal social communicative repertoires that also overlap with some of the early (preverbal) attentional and communicative aspects of the VBDA-R. In addition, the developmental trajectories of joint attention indicate that RJA and IJA are disassociated in development, with RJA more predictive of future language skills, and IJA linked more closely to current language functioning (Mundy & Jarrold, [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref27">25</reflink>]). The dissociative nature of RJA and IJA and their strong link to language development offers parallels to how listener and speaker behaviors are conceptualized to develop separately within VBDT.</p> <p>We expect joint attention to be correlated with the VBDA-R as it has been found to be a significant predictor of concurrent language skills (Dawson, [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref28">6</reflink>]; Harms, [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref29">15</reflink>]). More specifically, Harms ([<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref30">15</reflink>]) found that conditioned reinforcement for observing adult faces, a verbal behavior developmental cusp, is a direct predictor of both IJA and RJA. Separately, we hypothesize RJA to be correlated with the VBDA-R listener cusps, as the ability to follow the gaze and gestures of others is a form of an observing response, an early listener skill defined in VBDT. We hypothesize IJA to also be positively correlated with the VBDA-R across listener, speaker, and written behaviors as it is a building block of language. The behavior of initiating joint attention with social partners is most closely related to the verbal behavior of tacting (calling a listener's attention to stimuli in the environment) and is a foundational speaker behavior in the form of a point or other gesture that is emitted to gain the social attention of others (Harms, [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref31">15</reflink>]; Tomasello et al., [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref32">37</reflink>]). IJA is expected to be linked to current language development as it was assessed on the same timeline as the VBDA-R and in a similar free-play setting. RJA is believed to be more closely linked to future language as the acquisition of observing responses for people's voices, faces, and stimuli in one's environment are prerequisites to acquiring more complex behaviors such as following vocal directions, looking at books, and engaging with academic stimuli. Therefore, we expected participants' IJA to have a stronger correlation than RJA but expected both measures to be significantly correlated with VBDA-R scores.</p> <p>Finally, to test for divergent validity, we assessed the association between the VBDA-R and the parent-reported SEQ and CBCL/1.5–5. The SEQ measures parental reports of a child's sensory responses while the CBCL Externalizing scale measures a child's problematic attention and aggression responses, all of which are exclusive to the development of language. The study also tested the association between VBDA-R and age, expecting divergent validity as criterion-referenced assessments such as the VBDA-R are not sensitive to chronological age.</p> <p>The present study sought to answer two questions: Can convergent validity be demonstrated between a behavioral assessment, the VBDA-R, and traditional psychometric measures such as the Vineland-3 and the ADOS-2, and an observational measure of JA? Can divergent validity be demonstrated between the VBDA-R and the SEQ and the CBCL/1.5–5?</p> <hd id="AN0173979782-2">Methods</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0173979782-3">Participants</hd> <p>We recruited 49 biological mother–child dyads from an applied behavior analysis (ABA) school in a suburb of a northeastern United States city. Participants were preschool children suspected of or formally diagnosed with ASD, confirmed by the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2;). To be included children had to: a) have an Individual Education Program (IEP) or an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) for a preschooler with a disability (as the state does not use specific disability classifications until kindergarten), b) meet criteria for ASD on the ADOS-2, and c) be between 30 and 71 months of age. Mothers had to speak and read English fluently. Over 100 parents received recruitment flyers, ten responded, and the rest were recruited through phone calls and inquiries at drop-off and pick-up by school personnel. Of 49 potential participant dyads, one dropped out, two children did not meet the criteria for ASD, and four dyads had corrupted video files, unusable for analysis of mother–child interactions, leaving 42 dyads.</p> <p>Mothers' ages ranged from 27 to 47 years (mean 36.8). Most mothers had a bachelor's degree or higher (n = 33; 76.7%). Mothers identified as White (n = 18; 43.9%), Latinx (n = 12; 29.3%), Black (n = 7; 17.1%), or Asian or Pacific Islander (n = 4; 9.8%) and reported being married or in a committed partnership (n = 33, 78.6%). Reported household income level was bimodal: $75,000 to $99,999 range (n = 10, 24%) and above $200,000 (n = 10, 24%) and the full range of reported income levels extended from less than $10,000 to over $200,000. Children (32 boys, 10 girls) had ages ranging from 30 to 66 months.</p> <hd id="AN0173979782-4">Procedure</hd> <p>Mothers joined their children in the assessment room, which included a child-sized table, chairs, a play mat, and two mounted cameras. The assessment room was familiar to the children, as it was one of the two rooms in which they received speech and occupational therapy three to four times a week. The experimenter provided instructions to parents for five different 5-min tasks which totaled 20 min of parent–child interaction (i.e., 1) competing demands task, 2) teaching task, 3) free-play task, 4) clean-up task, and 5) denied access task). Only the free play task was analyzed for joint attention, as it was the only task that allowed for an open interaction free of demands and expectations from both the mother and the child. During the free play task, dyads were provided with various toys to interact with and asked to play as they normally would. Mothers did not receive any training on interactions or joint attention prior to the tasks.</p> <hd id="AN0173979782-5">Mother-Completed Questionnaire</hd> <p>Following the interaction, the child returned to the classroom while the mother completed a questionnaire that included demographics, child externalizing problems (CBCL/1.5–5) and sensory responsivity (SEQ). Mothers were paid $35 from faculty research funds.</p> <hd id="AN0173979782-6">Staff-Completed Measures</hd> <p>Teachers (head teacher or teaching assistants enrolled in an ABA graduate program) updated the VBDA-R continually as part of their ongoing assessment of children's progress. Scores were obtained from the student's educational files. The Vineland-3 Teacher Rating Form, Communication Domain was completed by the head teacher on one occasion. The ADOS-2 was administered by PhD students with on-site reliability with a research-reliable PhD student in ABA. Joint Attention was observationally coded using scales from the ESCS (Mundy et al., [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref33">24</reflink>]) by graduate assistants masked to the purpose of the study.</p> <hd id="AN0173979782-7">Measures</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0173979782-8">Verbal Behavior Developmental Assessment-Revised (VBDA-R)</hd> <p>The VBDA-R is an assessment tool used to identify a child's level of verbal behavior development as determined by the number of verbal and social cusps within their repertoire upon completion of the assessment. There are 32 verbal cusps measured on the assessment, each worth 1 point with a maximum score of 32 on the assessment. Table 1 lists the verbal sub-domains for the VBDA-R: Eight preverbal foundational and listener cusps, 11 speaker cusps, and 13 cusps involving print stimuli (e.g., reading and writing). Teachers who implemented the VBDA-R had been reliably calibrated to a standard of 100% procedural fidelity. Using the Teacher Performance Rate/Accuracy (TPRA) observation form, trained supervisors observed and measured the teachers' presentation of opportunities to respond and delivery of consequences (if applicable) to student responses and provided feedback and corrections until the teacher demonstrated 100% accuracy for each item assessed (Ingham & Greer, [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref34">17</reflink>]; Ross et al., [<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref35">32</reflink>]).</p> <p>Table 1 Verbal behavior developmental cusps measured in the VBDA-R</p> <p> <ephtml> <table frame="hsides" rules="groups"><thead><tr><th align="left"><p><bold>Levels of Verbal Behavior Development</bold></p></th><th align="left"><p><bold>Verbal Behavior Developmental Cusps</bold></p></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td align="left"><p>Pre-Foundational</p></td><td align="left"><p>· instructional control</p><p>· conditioned reinforcement for observing voices</p><p>· conditioned reinforcement for observing faces</p><p>· conditioned reinforcement for observing 2D and 3D stimuli</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Independent</p><p>Listener</p></td><td align="left"><p>· generalized imitation</p><p>· generalized matching</p><p>· basic listener literacy</p><p>· auditory match-to-sample selection response</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Independent</p><p>Speaker</p></td><td align="left"><p>· parroting</p><p>· echoic-to-mand</p><p>· echoic-to-tact</p><p>· independent mands</p><p>· independent tacts</p><p>· transformation of establishing operations across mands and tacts</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Bidirectional</p></td><td align="left"><p>· say-do correspondence</p><p>· self- talk</p><p>· full-naming</p><p>· observational learning</p><p>· social listener reinforcement</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Foundational</p><p>Reader and Writer</p></td><td align="left"><p>· conditioned reinforcement for observing books</p><p>· naming accrues from listening to stories read aloud by others</p><p>· print transcription</p><p>· dictation</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Basic Reader</p></td><td align="left"><p>· textually responding to rate</p><p>· responding to own textual responses as a listener</p><p>· reading governs own responding</p><p>· textually responding joins naming</p><p>· conditioned reinforcement for textually responding to printed stimuli</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Basic Writer</p></td><td align="left"><p>· joint stimulus control across saying and writing</p><p>· technical writing that precisely affects the reader's behavior</p><p>· aesthetic writing that affects the reader's emotions</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Self-Editor</p></td><td align="left"><p>· joining of the reader-writer cusp</p></td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <hd id="AN0173979782-9">Vineland Adaptive Behavior Skills-Third Edition (Vineland-3) Teacher Rating Form, Communicati...</hd> <p>The Vineland Teacher Rating Form, Communication Domain (VABS-3; Sparrow et al., [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref36">35</reflink>]) reliably measures receptive, expressive, and written language and was completed by the participating child's classroom teacher (α =.97 standardization sample; α =.94 present sample). The Communication domain includes ratings of the child's receptive (30 items), expressive (36 items), and written language (36 items). The teacher scored each item as either 2 (usually or often), 1 (sometimes), or 0 (never) based on what the child typically and usually does in the classroom. The Vineland Communication domain is highly correlated with cognitive ability in children with ASD (<emph>r</emph> =.80; Perry et al., [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref37">28</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0173979782-10">Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule – Second Edition (ADOS-2)</hd> <p>We used the ADOS-2 to support children's ASD diagnosis and to assess convergent validity using the module administered to the child. The ADOS-2 has demonstrated good psychometric properties in distinguishing individuals with ASD (Lord et al., [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref38">18</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref39">19</reflink>]). It has high inter-rater reliability (agreement in diagnostic classification 92% to 98% in Modules 1 through 3; Lord et. al., [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref40">18</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref41">19</reflink>]), high internal consistency for the Social Affect domain (α =.87–.92), is acceptable for the Repetitive Behavior domain (α =.51 –.66) (McCrimmon & Rostad, [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref42">22</reflink>]), and has good validity (Gotham et al., [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref43">7</reflink>]). Levels of severity for the child participants were low (n = 4, 8.9%), moderate (n = 14, 34.1%), and high (n = 22, 53.7%). Module 1 was administered to children who ranged from non-vocal verbal to emitting single words (n = 20), Module 2 to those who were vocal verbal with phrase speech (non-echolalic 3-word utterances that sometimes have a verb and convey meaning, n = 14), and Module 3 to those with fluent language (n = 7). The child's mother or member of the classroom team was present during the administration of Modules 1 and 2, as is required for standardized administration.</p> <hd id="AN0173979782-11">Joint Attention (JA)</hd> <p>Using coding schemes from the Early Social Communication Scales (ESCS; Mundy et al., [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref44">24</reflink>]), children's joint attention was captured across two mutually exclusive response types: a) children's initiations of joint attention (IJA) and b) responses to their mother's bids for joint attention (RJA) during mother–child interactions in a free-play setting. Two research assistants masked to the participants' diagnostic status coded each bid for joint attention by tallying the instances and calculating the sum for a total score. An independent coder conducted reliability coding. After an acceptable level of coding agreement was established, 20% of the sample was assessed for coder drift reliability. The Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) reliability for the components of IJA were.85 for showing,.74 for alternating eye contact,.82 for verbal initiations,.85 for eye contact, and.79 for point to share. The ICC reliability for the components of RJA were reported as follows:.91 for orienting, 1.0 for giving, and.72 for verbal responses to the mother's JA.</p> <hd id="AN0173979782-12">Sensory Experience Questionnaire (SEQ)</hd> <p>The Sensory Experience Questionnaire Short Form (Version 2.1; SEQ; Baranek, [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref45">3</reflink>]; Baranek et al., [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref46">4</reflink>]) was used to measure mothers' perception of children's sensory responses to typical encounters of sensory stimuli in social and non-social domains. The SEQ, a 30-item parent-reported measure, has been validated for children with autism, developmental delays, and typically developing children ages 6 months through 6 years, with a demonstrated ability to discriminate sensory features among known diagnostic groups (Baranek, [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref47">3</reflink>]; Baranek et al., [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref48">4</reflink>]). In this study, hyperresponsivity (i.e., a heightened sensory response to external stimuli) and hyporesponsivity (i.e., a diminished sensory response to external stimuli) were used as subscales. Internal reliability in the current study was good for hyperresponsivity (α =.74) and hyporesponsivity (α =.75).</p> <hd id="AN0173979782-13">Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL/1.5–5) Externalizing Scale</hd> <p>The Externalizing scale from the Preschool Scale of the Achenbach System for Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Rescorla, [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref49">1</reflink>]) was used to measure the mother's perceptions of her child's attention problems and aggressive behavior. An externalizing factor has been found in all child problem behavior scales and has considerable concurrent, criterion, and predictive validity (Achenbach & Rescorla, [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref50">2</reflink>]). Mothers rated their child's behavior for the preceding two months using an ordinal scale (0 = not true, 1 = somewhat or sometimes true, 2 = very true or often true). T-scores ranging from 65 to 69 are borderline and scores of 70 or greater are clinically significant (Achenbach & Rescorla, [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref51">1</reflink>]). The Externalizing scale has a test–retest reliability of <emph>r</emph> =.87 over 8 days, a stability of <emph>r</emph> =.66 over 6 months, same setting cross-informant agreement (parents) of.67, and cross-setting agreement (parent-teacher) of.58. Cronbach's alpha in the current sample was.92.</p> <hd id="AN0173979782-14">Results</hd> <p>We investigated the relations between the VBDA-R and five widely used standardized instruments (i.e., Vineland-3, ADOS-2, SEQ, and CBCL) and their subtests as well as observationally coded measures of the participants' joint attention (see Table 2).</p> <p>Table 2 Means and standard deviations of primary study variables</p> <p> <ephtml> <table frame="hsides" rules="groups"><thead><tr><th align="left"><p>Variable</p></th><th align="left"><p>n</p></th><th align="left"><p>Minimum</p></th><th align="left"><p>Maximum</p></th><th align="left"><p>Mean</p></th><th align="left"><p>SD</p></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td align="left"><p>Child Age</p></td><td align="left"><p>42</p></td><td align="left"><p>2.52</p></td><td align="left"><p>5.56</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>4.14</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.84</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Mother Age</p></td><td align="left"><p>42</p></td><td align="left"><p>0</p></td><td align="left"><p>61</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>19.25</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>18.42</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>ADOS-2 Score</p></td><td align="left"><p>42</p></td><td align="left"><p>0</p></td><td align="left"><p>52</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>23.93</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>11.25</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>VBDA-R Total</p></td><td align="left"><p>40</p></td><td align="left"><p>0</p></td><td align="left"><p>21</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>10.82</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>5.27</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>VBDA-R Listener</p></td><td align="left"><p>41</p></td><td align="left"><p>0</p></td><td align="left"><p>9</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>6.24</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>2.36</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>VBDA-R Speaker</p></td><td align="left"><p>41</p></td><td align="left"><p>0</p></td><td align="left"><p>9</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>4.07</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>2.91</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>VBDA-R Writer</p></td><td align="left"><p>40</p></td><td align="left"><p>0</p></td><td align="left"><p>4</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.57</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.84</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Vineland-3 Total Communication</p></td><td align="left"><p>42</p></td><td align="left"><p>0</p></td><td align="left"><p>148</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>50.02</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>33.05</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Vineland-3 Receptive</p></td><td align="left"><p>42</p></td><td align="left"><p>0</p></td><td align="left"><p>52</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>23.43</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>10.89</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Vineland-3 Expressive</p></td><td align="left"><p>42</p></td><td align="left"><p>0</p></td><td align="left"><p>61</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>17.79</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>17.54</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Vineland-3 Written</p></td><td align="left"><p>42</p></td><td align="left"><p>0</p></td><td align="left"><p>35</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>8.81</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>7.87</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Initiating Joint Attention</p></td><td align="left"><p>39</p></td><td align="left"><p>0</p></td><td align="left"><p>6</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>1.51</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>1.44</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Responding Joint Attention</p></td><td align="left"><p>39</p></td><td align="left"><p>0</p></td><td align="left"><p>12</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>3.38</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>2.48</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>CBCL Externalizing</p></td><td align="left"><p>42</p></td><td align="left"><p>1</p></td><td align="left"><p>40.18</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>16.65</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>9.18</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>SEQ Hyporesponsivity</p></td><td align="left"><p>41</p></td><td align="left"><p>1.31</p></td><td align="left"><p>3.46</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>2.39</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.61</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>SEQ Hyperresponsivity</p></td><td align="left"><p>41</p></td><td align="left"><p>1.23</p></td><td align="left"><p>4.00</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>2.31</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.59</p></td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <hd id="AN0173979782-15">Convergent Validity</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0173979782-16">VBDA-R and Vineland-3</hd> <p>Pearson two-tailed correlations were used to examine the relation between participants' VBDA-R scores and their Vineland-3 Communication domain scores (see Table 3). There were significant positive correlations between the participants' VBDA-R total score and their Vineland-3 receptive language (<emph>r(38</emph>) =.588, <emph>p</emph> <.01), expressive language (<emph>r(38</emph>) =.511, <emph>p</emph> <.01), and their overall composite communication scores (<emph>r(38</emph>) =.568, <emph>p</emph> <.01). Figure 1 displays the scores of each participant on the VBDA-R total score and Vineland-3 overall composite communication. There were significant positive correlations between the participants' VBDA-R scores in the listener domains and their Vineland-3 receptive language (<emph>r(39</emph>) =.498, <emph>p</emph> <.01), expressive language (<emph>r(39</emph>) =. 444, <emph>p</emph> <.01), written language (<emph>r(39</emph>) =.325, <emph>p</emph> <.01), and overall composite communication (<emph>r(38</emph>) =. 476, <emph>p</emph> <.01). Figure 2 displays the scores of each participant on the VBDA-R listener score and the receptive score in Vineland-3 Communication. It is noteworthy that the highest correlation was observed between the VBDA-R listener domain and children's Vineland-3 receptive language ability.</p> <p>Table 3 <emph>Correlations among study variables (n</emph> = <emph>39–42)</emph></p> <p> <ephtml> <table frame="hsides" rules="groups"><thead><tr><th align="left" /><th align="left"><p>1.</p></th><th align="left"><p>2.</p></th><th align="left"><p>3.</p></th><th align="left"><p>4.</p></th><th align="left"><p>5.</p></th><th align="left"><p>.6</p></th><th align="left"><p>7.</p></th><th align="left"><p>8.</p></th><th align="left"><p>9.</p></th><th align="left"><p>10.</p></th><th align="left"><p>11.</p></th><th align="left"><p>12.</p></th><th align="left"><p>13.</p></th><th align="left"><p>14.</p></th><th align="left"><p>15.</p></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td align="left"><p>1. VBDA total</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>- -</p></td><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>2. VBDA-R Listener</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.90***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>- -</p></td><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>3. VBDA-R Speaker</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.94***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.72***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>- -</p></td><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>4. VBDA-R Writer</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.472**</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.27</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.34*</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>- -</p></td><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>5. Vineland-3 Receptive</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.59***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.50***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.59***.55</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.23</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>- -</p></td><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>6. Vineland-3 Expressive</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.51***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.44**</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.55***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.07</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.85***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>- -</p></td><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>7. Vineland-3 Written</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.46**</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.33*</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.41**</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.40**</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.62***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.62***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>- -</p></td><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>8. Vineland-3 Total Comm</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.57***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.48**</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.58***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.21</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.93***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.96***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.77***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>- -</p></td><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>9. CBCL Aggression</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.24</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.22</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.21</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.19</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.14</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.03</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.18</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.10</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>- -</p></td><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>10. CBCL Externalizing</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.23</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.21</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.20</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.18</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.15</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p> < -.01</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.17</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.09</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.97***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>- -</p></td><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>11. SEQ Hypo responsivity</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.03</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.02</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.04</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.07</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.24</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.01</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.19</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.12</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.49**</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.58***</p></td><td align="left"><p>- -</p></td><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>12. SEQ Hyper Hyperresponsivity</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.13</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.02</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.20</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.02</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.08</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.12</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.05</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.05</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.57***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.59***</p></td><td align="left"><p>.54***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>- -</p></td><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>13. Initiating Join Attention</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.50***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.53***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.49**</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.14</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.55***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.56***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.13</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.50**</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.17</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.14</p></td><td align="left"><p>.20</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.18</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>- -</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>14. Responding Joint Attention</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p> <.01</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.13</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.11</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.11</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.11</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.12</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.09</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.08</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.04</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.02</p></td><td align="left"><p>-.02</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.05</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.12</p></td><td align="left"><p>- -</p></td><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>15. ADOS-2 severity score</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.04</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.04</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.14</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.27</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.31*</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.37*</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.05</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.31*</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.09</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.07</p></td><td align="left"><p>.04</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.12</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>-.36*</p></td><td align="left"><p>.32</p></td><td align="left"><p>- -</p></td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>p <. 05; ** p <.01; *** p <.001</p> <p>Graph: Fig. 1A scatter plot displaying the scores of each participant on the VBDA-R total score and Vineland-3 overall composite communication</p> <p>Graph: Fig. 2A scatter plot displaying the scores of each participant on the VBDA-R listener score and the Receptive score in Vineland-3 Communication</p> <p>There were significant correlations between the participants' VBDA-R scores in the speaker domain and their Vineland-3 receptive language (<emph>r(39</emph>) =.594, <emph>p</emph> <.01), expressive language (<emph>r(39</emph>) =. 545, <emph>p</emph> <.01), written language (<emph>r(39</emph>) =. 411, <emph>p</emph> <.01), and overall composite communication (<emph>r(39</emph>) =. 582, <emph>p</emph> <.01). Figure 3 displays the scores of each participant on the VBDA-R speaker score and the Expressive score in Vineland-3 Communication.</p> <p>Graph: Fig. 3A scatter plot displaying the scores of each participant on the VBDA-R speaker score and the Expressive score in Vineland-3 Communication</p> <p>There was a moderate positive correlation between the participants' VBDA-R writer scores and Vineland-3 written communication (<emph>r(38</emph>) =.401, <emph>p</emph> <.01) but not between the VBDA-R writer scores and Vineland-3 expressive, receptive, or overall language scores, indicating a potentially strong alignment between both measures' assessment of children's reading and writing skills.</p> <hd id="AN0173979782-17">VBDA-R and ADOS-2</hd> <p>Spearman nonparametric correlations were used to determine that participants' ADOS-2 module was moderately correlated with participants' VBDA-R total score (<emph>r(38</emph>) =.470, <emph>p</emph> <.01), VBDA-R listener score (<emph>r(39</emph>) =.409, <emph>p</emph> <.01), and VBDA-R speaker score (<emph>r(39</emph>) =.495, <emph>p</emph> <.01). ADOS-2 module was highly correlated with Vineland-3 receptive (<emph>r(40</emph>) =.793, <emph>p</emph> <.01), expressive (<emph>r(40</emph>) =.847, <emph>p</emph> <.01), overall composite communication scores (<emph>r(40</emph>) =.826, <emph>p</emph> <.01) and moderately with the written score (<emph>r(40</emph>) =.468, <emph>p</emph> <.01).</p> <hd id="AN0173979782-18">VBDA-R and Joint attention</hd> <p>We found a significant positive correlation between the participants' initiation of joint attention (IJA) with their mothers during free play and their VBDA-R listener (<emph>r(37</emph>) =.538, <emph>p</emph> <.01), speaker (<emph>r(37</emph>) =. 535, <emph>p</emph> <.01), and the total score (<emph>r(36</emph>) =. 529, <emph>p</emph> <.01). There was no significant correlation between the VBDA-R scores and participants' responses to their mother's joint attention bids (RJA; VBDA-R total, <emph>r(<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref52">36</reflink>)</emph> = <emph>.00, p</emph> =.99; VBDA-R listener, <emph>r</emph>(<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref53">37</reflink>) =.13, <emph>p</emph> =.45; VBDA-R speaker, <emph>r</emph>(<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref54">37</reflink>) = -.11, <emph>p</emph> =.52).</p> <hd id="AN0173979782-19">Divergent Validity</hd> <p>As predicted, there was no significant correlation between the participants' VBDA-R total score and the CBCL/1.5 – 5 Externalizing scale (<emph>r(40</emph>) =.23, <emph>p</emph> >.05), the SEQ Hyperresponsivity (<emph>r(37</emph>) =.13, <emph>p</emph> >.05). VBDA-R scores were unrelated to age (<emph>r(</emph>37<emph>)</emph> = <emph>.05, p</emph> =.77<emph>)</emph> and the years they had received intervention at the current preschool (<emph>r</emph>(<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref55">37</reflink>) = -.12, <emph>p</emph> =.48<emph>)</emph>.</p> <hd id="AN0173979782-20">Discussion</hd> <p>This study examined relations between the VBDA-R and standardized instruments including the Vineland-3, ADOS-2, SEQ, CBCL/1.5–5 Externalizing scale, and the participants' demonstration of joint attention. Our work is the first to indicate that the VBDA-R has convergent validity with scores obtained from an adaptive behavior measure (Vineland-3, Communication), the module used in a diagnostic measure (ADOS-2), and a behavior, IJA, embedded in early screening scales for ASD (i.e., the Modified-Checklist for Autism in Toddlers, M-CHAT, Robins et al., [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref56">30</reflink>]). There were no significant relations between the participants' VBDA-R scores and the SEQ or CBCL/1.5–5 Externalizing scores, thus confirming sound divergent validity of the VBDA-R. The SEQ aims to characterize sensory features in children and the CBCL is designed to identify behavioral and emotional problems in children, neither of which is related to language. Contrary to our expectation, RJA was also unrelated to the VBDA-R. Our results extend the existing literature by providing empirical evidence supporting the validity of the VBDA-R as an assessment tool to evaluate students' verbal behavior development, which can provide critical information when used in conjunction with criterion-referenced assessments and curricula, such as those in the ELCAR (Greer et al, [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref57">14</reflink>]).</p> <p>For the purposes of this study, we selected the Communication domain of the Vineland-3 in order to isolate language skills and their development from general adaptive skills. As a gold-standard measure for assessing an individual's adaptive functioning, the Vineland-3 focuses on the child's actual performance (does do) instead of ability (can do). This approach is consistent with the VBDA-R assessment of verbal behavior developmental cusps. Trained professionals conduct assessments of verbal development through direct observations. The presence or absence of a verbal behavior cusp is evaluated and determined by an operational definition of target behavior with observable and measurable criteria. For example, the echoic cusp is present if the child echoes the teacher's vocal model with point-to-point correspondence with 90% accuracy for two consecutive sessions, or 100% for one session.</p> <p>Our data show that the overall scores from the VBDA-R and the Vineland-3 composite Communication as well as each of the sub-domains from the VBDA-R (i.e., listener, speaker, and writer) and Vineland-3 Communication domain (i.e., receptive, expressive, and written scores) were moderately correlated with each other. Using Cohen's ([<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref58">5</reflink>]) conventions for interpreting effect size (i.e., small =.10, moderate =.30, large =.50), the strength of association between the two instruments were small to moderate across measures. These findings suggest the cusps contained in the VDBA-R may represent a meaningful tool for providing evidence-based measures of the verbal behavior developmental levels for individuals with autism and related disabilities.</p> <p>Our results also found that VBDA-R scores had strong correlations with the participants' ADOS-2 modules. The determination of the module used in ADOS-2 is mainly based on the individual's expressive language level (Lord et al., [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref59">18</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref60">19</reflink>]). Therefore, given a student's level of verbal behavior development (according to their VBDA-R scores), administrators can more easily select the appropriate module to use when implementing the ADOS-2. In turn, when educators are provided with a student's ADOS-2 score and module, they will have a starting point for identifying their level of verbal behavior development.</p> <p>We also investigated the relation between the participants' VBDA-R scores and their joint attention responses. Joint attention has been considered one of the key elements in social-communication differences among children with ASD. Both initiation of joint attention (IJA) and responding to other's joint attention bids (RJA) play a critical role in children's language development. In our study IJA, but not RJA, was significantly correlated with the VBDA-R. This result suggests that the VBDA-R may be a strong measure of children's current language functioning as it indicates the presence of verbal developmental cusps necessary for reciprocal social language interactions, such as observing responses for others' voices, faces, and stimuli in the child's environment as well as listener and speaker responses. RJA was not significantly correlated, perhaps because, although RJA also requires the presence of foundational cusps (observing responses), it is unidirectional as opposed to bidirectional or reciprocal. Our findings align with earlier research (Malesa, et al., [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref61">20</reflink>]; Sheinkopf, et al., [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref62">33</reflink>]) demonstrating that initiation of joint attention in early childhood was related to concurrent language development. Harms ([<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref63">15</reflink>]) found that children's acquisition of verbal behavior developmental cusps is a predictor of their joint attention; thus, targeting their observing responses and speaker behavior may result in an increase in both IJA and RJA. This is an important area for future research.</p> <p>Combined with the prior validity tests of the PIRK (Healy et al., [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref64">16</reflink>]; McGarrell, et al., [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref65">23</reflink>]; Waddington & Reed, [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref66">38</reflink>]), our findings provide promising preliminary psychometric validity for a comprehensive assessment and curriculum tool designed based on students' verbal behavior levels. Future studies should consider comparing the ELCAR, which combines the PIRK with the VBDA-R, with the Vineland-3 and other measures (e.g., Preschool Language Scales, PLS-5; Zimmerman, et al., [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref67">39</reflink>]) used to assess language development.</p> <p>The study had several strengths: Use of the ADOS-2 to support ASD classification of participant children, multiple sources of information used to test hypotheses (observations, curriculum-based assessment, teacher and parent report), and all participating families were in a full-day intense ABA program controlling for child education and daytime routine. The study also had limitations: Use of the Vineland-3 Communication domain only, rather than the entire adaptive behavior scale, limiting comparisons with pertinent repertoires allocated in other domains (e.g., conversations in socializing), small sample size, a lack of typically developing comparison groups, and limited generalizability to ASD children in ABA preschools. Finally, although the study included a relatively diverse sample of mothers, no data were collected on children's ethnicity/race. Moreover, future research should extend findings on joint attention to other caregivers (e.g., fathers, grandparents) and examine the studied associations within a larger sample of ethnic-culturally diverse dyads, including bilingual children. Future studies could also investigate VBDA-R's other psychometric properties (e.g., test–retest reliability, concurrent validity–a form of convergent validity) with direct assessment of language competence with larger samples and a typically developing comparison group. Future research with the VBDA-R should include the complete Vineland-3 as the VBDA-R has many social cusps that are not part of the Communication domain but are part of the Vineland-3 interpersonal domain.</p> <hd id="AN0173979782-21">Implications</hd> <p>The VBDA-R is different from simple ratings and requires specialized expertise to administer but, when used in conjunction with validated criterion-referenced assessments, the VBDA-R can offer information that will be beneficial for collaboration with practitioners in other disciplines. The current study contributes to a limited body of research examining VBDA-R and other existing instruments. Delays in verbal development are often a core deficit in children with ASD. Our findings demonstrate the validity of the VBDA-R and provide evidence for its broad utility in identifying appropriate educational objectives to help accelerate children's verbal development and remediate communication delays.</p> <hd id="AN0173979782-22">Acknowledgements</hd> <p>The authors wish to thank the Fred S. Keller Schools, Yonkers and Rockland, NY, especially Barbara Kimmel, and the preschool students and parents who participated. The study was conducted without external funding.</p> <hd id="AN0173979782-23">Data Availability</hd> <p>The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.</p> <hd id="AN0173979782-24">Compliance with Ethical Standards</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0173979782-25">Informed Consent</hd> <p>Informed consent was obtained from parents/guardians of all individual participants included in the study. All data reported in this study were collected in natural settings during participants' daily activities. Collection and reporting of such data on student behaviors was consented to by their parents/legal guardians as part of their educational program.</p> <hd id="AN0173979782-26">Ethical Approval</hd> <p>All procedures used in this study involving human participants were approved by the appropriate institutional ethics committee and have been performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.</p> <hd id="AN0173979782-27">Conflict of Interest</hd> <p>The authors declare no financial or non-financial conflict of interest.</p> <hd id="AN0173979782-28">Publisher's Note</hd> <p>Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.</p> <ref id="AN0173979782-29"> <title> References </title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" idref="ref20" type="bt">1</bibl> <bibtext> Achenbach TM, Rescorla LA. 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  Data: The Verbal Behavior Development Assessment--Revised: Convergent and Divergent Validity in a Sample of Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Jessica+Singer-Dudek%22">Jessica Singer-Dudek</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0149-1107">0000-0003-0149-1107</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Lin+Du%22">Lin Du</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Ashley+Greer%22">Ashley Greer</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Andrew+Dakopolos%22">Andrew Dakopolos</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Laudan+Jahromi%22">Laudan Jahromi</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Marla+Brassard%22">Marla Brassard</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22R%2E+Douglas+Greer%22">R. Douglas Greer</searchLink>
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  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: The Early Learner Curriculum and Achievement Record (ELCAR, Greer et al., 2020) is a criterion-referenced curriculum and assessment of children's development of language and social repertoires from the earliest foundational observing responses to advanced verbal repertoires. The developmental cusps or stages identified in the ELCAR have been validated and replicated through rigorous single-subject studies, but the assessment's convergent and divergent validity with traditional psychometric measures of similar and dissimilar constructs have not been investigated. In the present study, we compared one component of the ELCAR, the Verbal Behavior Development Assessment--Revised (VBDA-R), to four traditional psychometric measures as well as observed joint attention between 42 mother-child dyads within a free play setting. The preschoolers attended a full day applied behavior analysis (ABA) school that served children with autism spectrum and related disorders. The VBDA-R demonstrated convergent validity with the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale--3 (Vineland-3) Teacher Rating Form Communication domain, Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule--2 (ADOS-2) module, and observed child-initiated joint attention (IJA). It demonstrated divergent validity with the Sensory Experience Questionnaire (SEQ), Child Behavior Checklist externalizing scale (CBCL/1.5-5), and child response to mother-initiated joint attention (RJA).
– Name: AbstractInfo
  Label: Abstractor
  Group: Ab
  Data: As Provided
– Name: DateEntry
  Label: Entry Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2024
– Name: AN
  Label: Accession Number
  Group: ID
  Data: EJ1431001
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=eric&AN=EJ1431001
RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1007/s10882-023-09888-7
    Languages:
      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 19
        StartPage: 987
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Autism Spectrum Disorders
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Preschool Children
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Child Development
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Verbal Development
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Validity
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Measures (Individuals)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Psychometrics
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Adjustment (to Environment)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Behavior Rating Scales
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Diagnostic Tests
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Observation
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Check Lists
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Parent Child Relationship
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Mothers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Play
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Applied Behavior Analysis
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Child Behavior Checklist
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: The Verbal Behavior Development Assessment--Revised: Convergent and Divergent Validity in a Sample of Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder
        Type: main
  BibRelationships:
    HasContributorRelationships:
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Jessica Singer-Dudek
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Lin Du
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Ashley Greer
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Andrew Dakopolos
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Laudan Jahromi
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Marla Brassard
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: R. Douglas Greer
    IsPartOfRelationships:
      – BibEntity:
          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 12
              Type: published
              Y: 2023
          Identifiers:
            – Type: issn-print
              Value: 1056-263X
            – Type: issn-electronic
              Value: 1573-3580
          Numbering:
            – Type: volume
              Value: 35
            – Type: issue
              Value: 6
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities
              Type: main
ResultId 1