Psychometric Study of the Social Responsiveness Scale in Phelan-McDermid Syndrome.
Short SRS-2 beats the long one in PMS, yet still needs item tweaks before clinical use.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team tested the Social Responsiveness Scale-2 in people with Phelan-McDermid syndrome.
They compared the full 65-item form with a new short form.
All participants had both autism and intellectual disability.
What they found
The short form scored better on validity checks.
It separated PMS from other groups more cleanly.
Still, some questions did not fit this rare syndrome well.
How this fits with other research
Nishiyama et al. (2014) also saw weak spots in SRS short forms.
They worked with bright adults, yet still found poor validity.
Camodeca et al. (2020) tell a brighter story.
Their study of the Asperger Syndrome Diagnostic Scale showed fair accuracy in school kids.
The difference is sample ability.
Higher IQ can mask social items, while severe ID can inflate them.
Why it matters
Use the short SRS-2 for PMS if you need a quick screen, but read the manual with care.
Drop items about dating or driving for non-speakers.
Pair the scale with direct observation and parent clips.
Share your item notes so future versions can better fit this group.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The Social Responsiveness Scale-2 (SRS-2) is a quantitative measure used to characterize symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, research suggests that SRS-2 scores are significantly influenced by language ability and intellectual disability (ID). Efforts to refine the SRS-2 by Sturm, Kuhfeld, Kasari, and Mccracken [Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 58(9), 1053-1061] yielded a shortened form, yet its psychometric properties in populations with severe ID remain unknown. This study aims to examine the psychometric properties of the SRS-2 in Phelan-McDermid syndrome (PMS), a genetic condition associated with ASD and ID, thereby guiding score interpretation in this population and future development of targeted scales. Analyses, including Item Response Theory (IRT), were conducted on a sample of individuals with PMS (n = 91) recruited at six sites nationally. Psychometric properties evaluated include measures of reliability (internal consistency, test-retest reliability) and validity (structural, construct, content). While both SRS-2 forms are reliable, the shortened SRS-2 shows superior validity to the full SRS-2 for measuring ASD symptoms in PMS. On IRT analysis, the shortened SRS-2 shows excellent discrimination and precisely evaluates respondents across a wide range of ASD symptomatology but interpretation is limited by uncertain content validity and small sample size. The shortened SRS-2 shows some promise for use in PMS, but future refinements and additions are needed to develop items that are tailored to identify ASD in children with severe ID and specifically PMS. LAY SUMMARY: This study determined that a shortened form of the Social Responsiveness Scale, Second Edition (SRS-2) shows both promise and limitations for the characterization of autism symptomatology in individuals with Phelan-McDermid syndrome (PMS), a population characterized by intellectual disability (ID). Caution should be used when interpreting SRS-2 scores in individuals with ID and future research should modify existing items and develop new items to improve the SRS-2's ability to accurately characterize autism symptomatology in PMS. Autism Res 2020, 13: 1383-1396. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2020 · doi:10.1002/aur.2299