Stability of Variables Derived From Measures of Multisensory Function in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Kacie Dunham, Jacob I Feldman, Yupeng Liu and 11 others
PMID 32609807WHAT IT FOUND
Eye tracking measures of where children with autism look during speech tasks were highly stable.
However, brain response measures and listening-in-noise scores varied greatly between sessions. Single-session data from these latter tasks may not reliably reflect a child's true multisensory processing.
Key findings
01Variables derived from eye tracking showed high stability, often exceeding acceptable thresholds with a single observation.
02Brain response (ERP) variables were the least stable, with many requiring more than ten observations to achieve acceptable stability or showing no sign of converging.
03Listening-in-noise scores were highly unstable, requiring nine or more than ten observations to reach acceptable stability.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample size was small (11 participants), which reduces confidence that the stability estimates apply to other children with autism. Participants were older (7 years and up) and cognitively and linguistically higher functioning, so results may not generalize to younger or more severely affected children. The study only tested two observation days, meaning the number of observations required for stability is an extrapolation rather than a directly measured outcome for high numbers of sessions.
Declared interests
The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (Extramural).
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that a single session of listening-in-noise or EEG testing accurately captures a child's multisensory processing abilities. These measures showed low stability between sessions, requiring many repeated observations to reach reliable estimates.