RISK IDENTIFICATION FOR AUTISTIC SPECTRUM DISORDER IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN: DESIGN AND VALIDATION OF A SCREENING INSTRUMENT

Abstract

Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has grown exponentially over the past few decades. With a multifactorial cause, the diagnosis of ASD is essentially clinical, but it is known that early diagnosis contributes to a better prognosis. The educational context is conducive to tracking signs of ASD in preschool children, however, there are no instruments with this function. OBJECTIVE: verify the evidence of content validity of an instrument to identify signs for ASD in the educational context. METHOD: the elaboration of the instrument consisted of developing the questions, submitting the questions to a committee of expert judges and subsequent evaluation by members of the target population. For content evaluation, 15 judges with expertise in ASD participated, who judged the items from the first version of the instrument as to their relevance and representativeness for a given concept. The second stage included the participation of 10 preschool teachers who evaluated the items from the second version regarding the understanding of the items. The third stage included the participation of two specialists and early childhood education teachers. RESULTS: Literature investigation allowed the construction of the first version of the instrument, composed of two categories: Social communication and Social interaction and Behavior patterns. In the stage of analysis of questions by judges, the IVC and IVC-I indices showed high agreement among experts. However, some items needed to be adjusted, and a second version was proposed. The analysis stage by members of the target population revealed that the vast majority of items were understood by the evaluators, requiring some adjustments, which culminated in the elaboration of the third version. Finally, the analysis of the third version of the instrument by two specialists and by the group of early childhood education teachers indicated the need for changes, resulting in the fourth version of the instrument. CONCLUSION: The elaborated instrument showed evidence of content validity, and should proceed to the next validation steps.