Date of Submission
2024
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)
Department
Psychology
Department Chair
Jessica Kendorski, PhD, NCSP, BCBA
First Advisor
Jessica Kendorski, PhD, NCSP, BCBA
Second Advisor
Richard Allen, PsyD, NCSP, BCBA-D
Third Advisor
Diana Robins, PhD
Abstract
Measuring changes in autism symptoms as a result of treatment is a known gap in autism research and intervention. The Brief Observation of Social Communication Change-Minimally Verbal (BOSCC-MV) was designed to capture changes in social communication behaviors and other autism-related behaviors as a treatment response. In this study, the BOSCC-MV coding scheme was applied across different play observations from the BOSCC-MV and the Communication Play Protocol to compare the effect of semistructured play contexts with a familiar play administrator over time to determine if differences in social communication behaviors and autism symptoms would be observed. This research examined the impact of the BOSCC-MV in detecting changes in social communication behaviors when play administrations were embedded with social contextual factors, such as seminaturalistic play activities, with a caregiver that encouraged children with autism to engage in a range of social communication behaviors before and after 1 year of early intervention. This study used a paired samples t test and repeated measures ANOVA to examine the impact of the BOSCC-MV in detecting social communication behaviors and other autism-related behaviors across play types and time. Results indicated that similar social communication behaviors and autism symptoms were observed across play types before intervention. Participants demonstrated improved social communication behaviors when the BOSCC-MV was administered across play types postintervention. However, the interaction between play types and time was not significant, although effect sizes were large. This suggests that replication of this study with a larger sample size may yield significant findings.
Recommended Citation
Woodard, Camilla, "Brief Observation of Social Communication Change to Evaluate Change in Autism Symptoms as a Treatment Response in a Semistructured Play Assessment" (2024). PCOM Psychology Dissertations. 657.
https://digitalcommons.pcom.edu/psychology_dissertations/657