Assessing Autism Spectrum Disorder in People with Sensory Impairments Combined with Intellectual Disabilities.
OASID offers a reliable, valid way to diagnose autism severity in clients with combined sensory loss and intellectual disability.
01Research in Context
What this study did
de Vaan et al. (2018) built and tested a new tool called OASID. It is made for clients who have both sensory loss and intellectual disability. The team checked if the tool gives steady scores and truly spots autism.
They wanted to see if OASID could tell apart four levels of autism severity in this hard-to-test group.
What they found
OASID showed good-to-excellent reliability. It also proved valid. The tool clearly split clients into four autism severity groups.
In short, it works where standard tests often fail.
How this fits with other research
Johnson et al. (2009) used case studies to show that social reciprocity, not stereotypy, marks autism in deafblind clients with profound ID. Gitta et al. now give a structured way to score those same social signs.
Martin et al. (1997) told GPs to do yearly otoscopy and check glasses or aids. OASID goes further: it turns sensory checks into autism data.
Bizzell et al. (2020) showed sensory profile scores can flag autism. Gitta et al. extend that idea by folding sensory responses into a full autism diagnosis tool.
Why it matters
If you assess clients who are blind, deaf, or both and also have ID, OASID gives you a psychometrically sound option. You can now assign an autism severity level instead of writing "unable to test." Try adding OASID items next time you face this dual diagnosis puzzle.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
People with sensory impairments combined with intellectual disabilities show behaviours that are similar to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The instrument Observation of Autism in people with Sensory and Intellectual Disabilities (OASID) was developed to diagnose ASD in this target group. The current study focuses on the psychometric properties of OASID. Sixty individuals with intellectual disabilities in combination with visual impairments and/or deafblindness participated in this study. The OASID assessment was administered and rated by three independent observers. By means of expert consensus cut-off scores for OASID were created. To determine the concurrent validity OASID was compared with the Pervasive Developmental Disorder for People with Mental Retardation (PDD-MRS) and the Childhood Autism Rating Scale second edition (CARS-2). The intra-rater reliability, the inter-rater reliability, internal consistency and concurrent validity of OASID were good to excellent. Cut-off scores were established based on criteria from the DSM-5. OASID was able to differentiate between four severity levels of ASD.
Journal of developmental and physical disabilities, 2018 · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2005.00894.x