Article

Study was to develop an International
Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health-Children and Youth (ICF-CY)
based questionnaire for children with autism, investigate the inter-rater
reliability of the questionnaire and assess functional performance in children
with autism. METHOD: The ICF-CY based questionnaire for children with autism
comprised 118 items was designed with reference the ICF-CY structure. The study
protocol was divided into two parts. In the first part, the inter-rater
reliability of the questionnaire was investigated using information from 26
children (aged 3-6 years) with autism and using the intra-class correlation
coefficients to estimate reliability. The second part of the study aimed to
assess functional performance of another independent sample (136 children, aged
3-6 years) utilizing the questionnaire. Mean scores were compared by
nonparametric statistic. RESULTS: The inter-rater reliability for each domains of
the questionnaire was found to be moderate to high (intra-class correlation
coefficients ranged from 0.72 to 0.97). Children with autism had major problems
in voice and speech functions. They had high dependency when executing individual
activities of learning and applied knowledge. They also required maximal
assistance while engaging in social activities related to conversation and major
life categories. CONCLUSIONS: This preliminary study shows that ICF-CY based
questionnaire has good reliability and can reflect the functional profile of
preschool children with autism. However, further study is needed to confirm other
psychometric characteristics.

Langue : ANGLAIS