| Summary: | 碩士 === 長庚大學 === 職能治療學系 === 98 === As one of the pervasive developmental disorders, Asperger’s disorder (AspD) is characterized by significant impairments of the social interactions as well as restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. Children with AspD are often not diagnosed until they enter elementary schools when needs for interpersonal interaction increase. Despite the urgent need for early diagnosis and intervention, limited instruments have been developed in Taiwan to assess symptoms of AspD. Since the Gilliam Asperger’s Disorder Scale (GADS) has good reliability and validity, this study intends to translate the GADS into Chinese and evaluate the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of GADS (GADS-C) using samples of Taiwanese boys.
Forty-six boys with AspD, 30 boys with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and 30 normally developing boys were recruited to participate in this study. All the participants were between 7 and 15 years-old and had average intelligence. Three groups were matched on both age and IQ. All the children were administered (1) the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III), (2) the Children’s Version of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (Eyes Test), and (3) the Theory of Mind Test (ToM Test). All parents and teachers completed behavior ratings for the children using (1) the GADS-C, (2) the Socialization subscale of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale (Vineland-II and VABS), and (3) the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Teacher Report Form (TRF).
The results revealed that GADS-C has good reliability and validity. The internal consistency coeficients of parental and of teacher’s ratings are .96 and .97 respectively; and the three- to six- week test-retest reliability of parental and teacher’s ratings are .77 and .78 respectively. The point-biserial correlation between the GADS-C scores and clinical diagnosis is statistically significant. The GADS-C is also significantly correlated with the socialization scores of Vineland-II/VABS and the level II of ToM test. Parental ratings could discriminate the children with AspD from those with ADHD or normally developing children. Teacher’s ratings could discriminate the children with AspD from normal counterpart. Compared to teachers, parents tended to report more severe problems in their children.
In conclusion, GADS-C has demonstrated adequate reliability and validity. It is recommended that clinician include GADS-C as a screening test in diagnosing Asperger’s disorder. Since there is a significant difference between parental and teacher’s ratings, it is suggested that separate norms should be established for different informants, i.e., parents and teachers.
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