Assessing symptoms during comprehensive interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorder: Development and preliminary analysis of the Autism Behaviour Coding System (ABCS)

Dima, Diana C.; Lazari, Olga; Schmeck, Klaus; Spiegel, René; Brönnimann, Anja; Goth, Kirstin; Herbrecht, Evelyn

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2016.11.006

Cited by 3 publications

(12 citation statements)

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“…As recently published by our group, results from a small patient sample suggested that the ABCS could be suitable at capturing short‐term intervention effects, and could be useful to evaluate early interventions for ASD [Dima et al, ]. However, the changes detected using the ABCS were not statistically significant, most likely due to the small size of the patient sample.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 71%

“…As in our previous study [Dima et al, ], we used the DD‐C‐GAS, an ASD‐adapted version of the Children's Global Assessment Scale [Schaffer et al, ], as the reference measure of the children's level of functioning. DD‐C‐GAS results from a previous study showed important improvement during intervention [Dima et al, ]. In the current study, we used the DD‐C‐GAS as an independent external instrument to be able to determine whether positive changes on this scale after FIAS interventions would be reflected in the ABCS.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ABCS is a video‐based observational instrument for assessing core autism symptoms during semistructured adult‐child interaction [see Dima et al, for details]. In contrast to the majority of other observational tools available for use in evaluation studies of early intensive interventions, the ABCS is used by independent raters not involved in the intervention process.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Continuous 60‐min video sequences of therapist‐child interaction were coded at three time points: at intervention start (Baseline, corresponding to day 4 of the intensive intervention, after the child could adapt to the situation and was separated from its parents during the day), at midintervention (day 9 or 10), and at the end of the intensive period (day 17). Based on findings of our earlier study [Dima et al, ], we now decided to choose a longer time period for scoring, which should provide a more stable base for assessments across the treatment period. Additionally, we only chose morning sequences with the same reference therapist at all time points.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to address the need for sensitive measures to capture core autism‐related behaviors focusing on the social communication domain as well as on repetitive behaviors, we started to work on a video‐based assessment tool, called the Autism Behavior Coding System (ABCS) in 2011 and published preliminary data on its psychometric properties, as well as its sensitivity to change to proximal intervention effects [Dima et al, ]. The ABCS was originally developed to evaluate the effectiveness of the “Frühintervention bei Autistischen Störungen” (FIAS) early intervention approach.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Process research in early intensive intervention in autism spectrum disorder: Sensitivity to change of the autism behavior coding system

Herbrecht¹,

Lazari²,

Notter³

et al. 2019

Autism Research

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The development of sensitive measures to capture changes in core autism symptoms is crucial in early intervention research. The study examines the sensitivity to change of the Autism Behavior Coding System (ABCS), a video‐based instrument to assess core autism symptoms during therapist‐child interaction. Video sequences of 40 young children treated in the Frühintervention bei Autistischen Störungen center were analyzed with regard to the question of whether short‐term changes during an 18 day period of early intervention could be captured, and whether these results are reflected in an independent clinical assessment (Developmental Disorders‐Child‐Global Assessment Scale [DD‐C‐GAS]). ABCS results showed statistically significant improvements on behavioral domains such as “expression of wishes” and “social cooperative behavior” (P < 0.01), less pronounced on “eye contact.” Improvements on the DD‐C‐GAS were highly significant on all subdomains. Both scales showed high correlations within their subdomains, yet no significant correlations between the changes in both instruments' scores were found. An additional analysis between the DD‐C‐GAS scores at day 18 and the changes in the ABCS scores showed statistically significant associations in the expected direction between the changes in the variable “eye contact” and all DD‐C‐GAS subdomains. The correspondence of the two levels of assessment is low, but the specifics of this relationship deserve further study. The ABCS may prove useful in addition to standard assessment tools, especially in early intervention research settings, as it allows reliable analysis of core behavioral elements in young children with autism. Autism Res 2019, 12: 1817–1828. © 2019 The Authors. Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Lay SummaryThe study examined the sensitivity of an autism‐specific video coding system (ABCS) in assessing changes after an 18 day period of intensive early intervention. Video sequences of therapist‐child‐interaction of 40 young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were analyzed. Children's behavior improved in expression of wishes, social cooperativity and eye contact. A therapist‐based global assessment scale also showed important improvement after 18 days, yet both assessment instruments showed weak correlations between their respective changes. We showed that the ABCS may prove useful in capturing short‐term changes in autism‐related behaviors, especially in early intervention research.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 71%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Process research in early intensive intervention in autism spectrum disorder: Sensitivity to change of the autism behavior coding system

Herbrecht¹,

Lazari²,

Notter³

et al. 2019

Autism Research

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Clinical utility of the standardized observation tool Autism Behavior Coding System for early intervention research in autism spectrum disorder

Spiegel,

Notter,

Lazari

et al. 2023

Autism Research

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The Autism Behavior Coding System (ABCS) was developed to help evaluating the effectiveness of early intensive interventions in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The video‐based ABCS assesses eight core autistic behavioral variables during therapist‐child interaction using standardized quantitative criteria, four behaviors according to their frequency of occurrence, four according to their duration. The present study focuses (1) on the correspondence of ABCS scores with scores on two standard clinical instruments (the ADOS‐2 and an ASD‐adaptation of the Children's Global Assessment Scale, DD‐CGAS), (2) on the sensitivity to change of ABCS scores by the end of an intensive 18 days intervention period (EIP) and (c) on the predictability of short‐ and longer‐term changes in social and repetitive behaviors from ABCS scores at baseline and EIP. Data from 51 children (42 M, 9 F; median age 45 months) followed over 1 year were available. There were significant correlations at baseline between several ABCS scores and ADOS‐2 as well as DD‐CGAS scores. Correlations at EIP between some ABCS and DD‐CGAS scores were highly significant. Four ABCS scores reflected significant changes from baseline to EIP. Several baseline ABCS scores were predictive of DD‐CGAS and ADOS‐2 scores at EIP and Year 1. However, associations between ABCS score changes from baseline to EIP and the clinical scale changes by Year 1 were not significant. It is concluded that several ABCS scores have adequate clinical validity and sensitivity to change. The short‐term changes in ABCS scores and their relationship to longer‐term clinical changes need further study.

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Short-Term and Highly Intensive Early Intervention FIAS: Two-Year Outcome Results and Factors of Influence

et al. 2020

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Background: Comprehensive behaviorally or developmentally based early intervention programs have been shown to be effective in improving cognitive, social communicative, and adaptive skills of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Besides the definition of relevant outcome predictors, the question of whether early intensive intervention positively changes core autism symptoms in children, as well as their long-term outcome, is an important issue for current research. The primary objective of the current study was to examine whether symptomatic and behavioral changes in children up to 4.5 years with ASD were sustained one and two years after an initial 18 days of intensive FIAS (Frühintervention bei autistischen Störungen) intervention. Methods: We analyzed the data of 32 young children with moderately severe to severe ASD who had been treated at the FIAS center between January 2011 and July 2017 and who had completed their 2-year follow-up in summer 2019. Results: ADOS total scores decreased significantly from baseline to the 1-year follow-up and from baseline to the 2-year follow-up (p < 0.01), with the most prominent change being from baseline to 2-year follow-up. The DD-C-GAS, a global scale used to assess four areas of everyday functioning, showed highly significant improvements on all subdomains. We found mostly significant correlations between results on both rating instruments at all time points, yet mostly no meaningful correlation between their changes over time. There was a close and statistically significant relationship between parents' treatment adherence and ADOS scores, indicating that the better parents' treatment adherence, the lower the children scored on the ADOS at 1-and 2-year follow-up. Overall, improvement on both scales was virtually independent of age and autism symptom severity at baseline, suggesting that older (>43 months) and more severely affected children (ADOS total score >20) may benefit from the FIAS intervention to the same extent as younger children do. Conclusions: The results of the study indicate that the FIAS approach of providing an initial highly intensive 18-day intervention period, followed by 2 years of less intensive

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Assessing symptoms during comprehensive interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorder: Development and preliminary analysis of the Autism Behaviour Coding System (ABCS)

Cited by 3 publications

References 22 publications

Process research in early intensive intervention in autism spectrum disorder: Sensitivity to change of the autism behavior coding system

Process research in early intensive intervention in autism spectrum disorder: Sensitivity to change of the autism behavior coding system

Clinical utility of the standardized observation tool Autism Behavior Coding System for early intervention research in autism spectrum disorder

Short-Term and Highly Intensive Early Intervention FIAS: Two-Year Outcome Results and Factors of Influence

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