Traetta Ilaria, Gabbatore Ilaria, Aimar Alessandra, Arduino Giuseppe Maurizio, Bosco Francesca M
Department of Psychology, Research Group on Inferential Processes in Social Interaction (GIPSI) Research Group, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
Department of Humanities, Research Group on Inferential Processes in Social Interaction (GIPSI) Research Group, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
Front Psychiatry. 2025 Apr 28;16:1568108. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1568108. eCollection 2025.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by difficulties in social communication. Autistic individuals who are verbally fluent, often show difficulties in pragmatic ability, i.e. the capacity to use language and other expressive means, as gestures or the tone of the voice, to convey meaning in a given context. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of various technologies such as videoconferencing and internet for the delivery of healthcare services, i.e. telehealth, has proven to be effective, accessible and safe tools for remote healthcare. However, there are few tools to assess pragmatic skills in telehealth. This study investigates the effectiveness of the telehealth-adapted Assessment Battery for Communication (e-ABaCo), a clinical tool previously validated for in-person assessments, to evaluate pragmatic abilities in autistic individuals. We expect a substantial equivalence in performance for the administration of the adapted version of e-ABaCo compared to the face-to-face one.
We compared the performance of 30 autistic adolescents, of which 15 assessed via telehealth (ASD TH) and 15 assessed face-to-face (ASD FtF), with that of 15 adolescents with typical development (face-to-face assessment). The groups were matched for age, sex, and intellectual quotient. E-ABaCo was used to assess both comprehension and production of communicative ability realized through different expressive means, i.e. linguistic, extralinguistic and paralinguistic, as well as social appropriateness.
In line with the expectation, the pragmatic performance of autistic adolescents showed a substantial equivalence when comparing the assessments conducted via telehealth and face-to-face modality. Moreover, in line with the relevant literature, there was a significant difference between the ASD groups' performance (both FtF and TH) and the control group of the adolescents with typical development (CG FtF) in all pragmatic aspects assessed, i.e. the Pragmatic total score, comprehension and production abilities, and all the expressive means investigated.
These results confirm the potential usefulness of telehealth assessment procedures, and demonstrate the sensitivity and validity of e-ABaCo for conducting an effective assessment of pragmatic skills in on-line modality in autistic adolescents.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）是一种神经发育障碍，其特征是社交沟通存在困难。语言流畅的自闭症患者通常在语用能力方面存在困难，即使用语言和其他表达方式（如手势或语调）在特定情境中传达意义的能力。在新冠疫情期间，视频会议和互联网等各种技术用于提供医疗服务，即远程医疗，已被证明是远程医疗有效、便捷且安全的工具。然而，在远程医疗中评估语用技能的工具很少。本研究调查了适用于远程医疗的沟通评估量表（e-ABaCo）的有效性，该临床工具先前已在面对面评估中得到验证，用于评估自闭症患者的语用能力。我们预计，与面对面版本相比，e-ABaCo改编版的施测表现将具有实质等效性。
我们比较了30名自闭症青少年的表现，其中15名通过远程医疗进行评估（ASD TH），15名进行面对面评估（ASD FtF），以及15名发育正常的青少年（面对面评估）。这些组在年龄、性别和智商方面进行了匹配。使用e-ABaCo评估通过不同表达方式（即语言、非语言和副语言）实现的沟通能力的理解和表达，以及社交适宜性。
正如预期的那样，比较通过远程医疗和面对面方式进行的评估时，自闭症青少年的语用表现具有实质等效性。此外，与相关文献一致，在所有评估的语用方面，即语用总分、理解和表达能力以及所有调查的表达方式方面，ASD组（FtF和TH）与发育正常的青少年对照组（CG FtF）的表现存在显著差异。
这些结果证实了远程医疗评估程序的潜在有用性，并证明了e-ABaCo在对自闭症青少年进行在线语用技能有效评估方面的敏感性和有效性。
