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Parent and Teacher Concordance on the Social Responsiveness Scale for Children with Autism

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Abstract

There are inconsistent findings regarding parent and teacher agreement on behavioral ratings of their children with autism. One possible reason for this inconsistency is that studies have not taken autism severity into account. This study examined parent and teacher concordance of social behavior based on symptom severity for children with autism. Participants were 123 parent–teacher dyads who completed the Social Responsiveness Scale. Symptom severity was assessed using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). Results indicated that parent and teacher ratings were statistically significantly correlated at the beginning and end of the academic year, but only for severely affected children. Teacher report of social deficits was correlated with symptom severity as measured by the ADOS; parent report was not. These findings have implications for improving assessment procedures and parent–teacher collaboration.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health National Research Service Award Grant # 1-F32-MH101994 (PI Azad), the Autism Science Foundation Research Enhancement Mini Grant # REG 14-01 (PI Azad), the National Institute of Mental Health Grant # 1 R01 MH083717 (PI Mandell), and the Institute of Education Sciences Grant # R324A080195 (PI Mandell).

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Correspondence to Gazi F. Azad.

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All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Azad, G.F., Reisinger, E., Xie, M. et al. Parent and Teacher Concordance on the Social Responsiveness Scale for Children with Autism. School Mental Health 8, 368–376 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-015-9168-6

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