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Article Critique: Primary Area of Study
Myeshia Napier
Liberty University Online
Article Critique: Primary Area of Study
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The purpose of this study was to look into the ESAC's desire for a more reliable and
complete parent-report screening tool that included questions on early social communication and
the presence of RRBs, all of which were based on core ASD diagnostic traits (Wetherby et al.,
2021). The performance of the ESAC during field testing with children aged 12–36 months was
reported in this research. Children were recruited from five sites using a variety of ascertainment
sources. They gathered children with parental or professional concerns about ASD or DD,
familial risk, or a positive primary care communication delay test, creating a heterogeneous
group of children at high risk for ASD. The study's first goal was to look at item-level
performance to see which items best distinguished these children with ASD from those who did
not. The second goal was to look at the early psychometric features of the best set of ESAC items
and their performance in this high risk sample's three age groups: 12–17, 18–23, and 24–36
months. 2021) (Wetherby et al.).
They did field-testing in five sites with 471 children screened for communication delays
in primary care or referred for familial risk or concern for autism spectrum disorder. The five
sites participants were recruited from was Florida State University , University of California, San
Diego, National Institute of Mental Health , University of Michigan Autism and Communication
Disorders Center , and University of California, Davis (Wetherby et al., 2021). Many tests were
used during the screenings like ESAC,MSEL, and ADOS. The ESAC is a field-test version
comprising 46 items that measured lack of usual social communication development and the
prevalence of RRBs in ASD symptom domains. MSEL is a standardized developmental level
evaluation. Visual Reception, Fine Motor, Expressive, and Receptive Language subscales
received standard T scores, and ADOS is a standardized, semi-structured test that measures ASD
symptoms and delivers domain and overall scores (Wetherby et al.,2021).
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The ROC curves were studied to discover the questions that best differentiated between
children with and without ASD in the ESAC preliminary field testing results. AUCs for total
scores of the best 30 items exceeded 0.90, and early cutoffs for the 30-item ESAC were created
across age groups with promising sensitivity and specificity. The findings support the ESAC's
validity as an autism screener for children aged 12 to 36 months who are at high risk of
developing ASD, with over 80% of children with ASD correctly identified in this sample, and in
the AAP-recommended screening age range of 18–24 months, and ESAC demonstrated high
psychometric qualities, as well as adequate sensitivity down to 12 months, which is
uncommon.In a sample with a higher developmental level on the MSEL Early Learning
Composite (ELC) by 18 points, the ESAC was more accurate than children with ASD diagnosed
by community referrals and universal screening with the M-CHAT (Wetherby et al., 2021). In the
initial study of the M-CHAT in primary care, the average T scores of children with ASD were at
least 5 points higher than samples detected with the M-CHAT, and the average of MSEL ELC for
children detected with ASD in this field-test sample was 22 points higher than the average of the
Bayley Mental Development Index for children with ASD in the M-CHAT/F. (Wetherby et
al.,2021).
Interdisciplinary focus: Step 6
Psychology is the discipline represented in this article. In this article they are doing early
testing to determine if a child has ASD. ASD is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by
deficits in social communication and social interaction and the presence of restricted, repetitive
behaviors. Cognitive theories and psychological assessments are being discussed in this article.
Cognitive theory is built around the premise that a person's thoughts control his actions,
personality, and to some degree his circumstances, and psychological assessment can include
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numerous components such as norm-referenced psychological tests, informal tests and surveys,
interview information, school or medical records, medical evaluation and observational data.
There were some limitations to this study, such as the fact that the sample had an elevated
risk of ASD, and the ESAC's claimed accuracy may be higher than in a low-risk primary care
group. Differences in developmental levels among groups may have contributed to the high
amount of discriminating between them. The TD group exhibited above-average developing
skills, but the ASD group's developmental level was lower than the DD and TD groups, although
being greater than prior screening studies. As a result, follow-up research will be needed to look
into the role of developmental variations in the ESAC's accuracy, as well as to assess the ESAC's
predictive usefulness in children with low and high developmental levels.
Finally, this study relates to my research topic by focusing on the ESAC's desire for a
more reliable and complete parent-report screening tool that included questions on early social
communication and the presence of RRBs, all of which were based on core ASD diagnostic
traits. This can help to diagnose children early and be able to help them with their social skills
development.In the bible it talks about in Philippians 4:6-7 “ Do not be anxious about anything,
but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known
to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and
your minds in Christ Jesus(100 Bible Verses about Mental Illness).” This quote to me is basically
speaking about how terrifying life often is, particularly when we are taking risks or challenged
by a crisis. In this particular article parents were dealing with a challenging crisis. Your whole
life changes when you find out you have a child with a disability that can affect their livelihood.
But at the same time this quote shows the vast amount of love that God has for us and trust that
we must have in God. I feel like without having trust in God we will not get far and when it
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comes to life we need to trust in him to be able to move on from things or be able to believe in
him to get through this obstacle in our life.
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References
100 Bible Verses about Mental Illness. What Does the Bible Say About Mental Illness? (n.d.).
https://www.openbible.info/topics/mental_illness.
Manwaring, S. S., Thurm, A., Ozonoff, S., Petkova, E., & Lord, C. (2021). The early
screening for autism and communication disorders: Field-testing an autism-specific screening
tool for children 12 to 36 months of age. Autism : The International Journal of Research and
Practice, , 13623613211012526-13623613211012526.
https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613211012526
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