Division of Clinical Behavioral Neuroscience, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
Simons Foundation, New York, New York, USA.
Autism Res. 2023 Jun;16(6):1210-1224. doi: 10.1002/aur.2934. Epub 2023 Apr 25.
Assessing cognitive development is critical in clinical research of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, collecting cognitive data from clinically administered assessments can add a significant burden to clinical research in ASD due to the substantial cost and time required, and it is often prohibitive in large-scale studies. There is a need for more efficient, but reliable, methods to estimate cognitive functioning for researchers, clinicians, and families. To examine the degree to which caregiver estimates of cognitive level agree with actual measured intelligence/developmental scores and understand factors that may impact that agreement, 1,555 autistic individuals (81.74% male; age 18 months-18 years) were selected from a large cohort (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research for Knowledge, SPARK). Results suggest that querying parents about recent testing results and developmental diagnoses can provide valid and useful information on cognitive ability. The agreement of parental estimates varied with age, measured cognitive ability, autistic traits, and adaptive skills. In the context of large-scale research efforts, parent-reported cognitive impairment may be a good proxy for categorical IQ range for survey-based studies when specific IQ scores are not available, circumventing the logistical and financial obstacles of obtaining neuropsychological or neurodevelopmental testing.
评估认知发展对于自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的临床研究至关重要。然而，由于临床评估所需的大量成本和时间，从临床管理的评估中收集认知数据会给 ASD 的临床研究增加显著负担，这在大规模研究中往往是不可行的。因此，研究人员、临床医生和家庭需要更有效但可靠的方法来估计认知功能。为了研究照顾者对认知水平的估计与实际测量的智力/发育分数的一致性程度，并了解可能影响这种一致性的因素，从一个大型队列（西蒙斯基金会自闭症研究知识动力，SPARK）中选择了 1555 名自闭症个体（81.74%为男性；年龄 18 个月至 18 岁）。结果表明，询问父母有关最近的测试结果和发育诊断的问题可以提供有关认知能力的有效和有用的信息。父母估计的一致性随年龄、测量的认知能力、自闭症特征和适应技能而变化。在大规模研究工作的背景下，当无法获得特定的智商分数时，父母报告的认知障碍可能是基于调查的研究中分类智商范围的一个很好的替代指标，从而规避了获得神经心理学或神经发育测试的后勤和财务障碍。
