Clinical outcomes of an early intervention program for preschool children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in a community group setting

Table 1 Pre- to post-intervention scores in a cohort of preschoolers treated with group ESDM

	Time 1		Time 2
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	t	df	p	Cohen’s d ^f
Mullen Scales of Early learning
Visual Reception DQ^a	35.9	20.6	51.5	28.2	−3.9	19	0.001**	0.63
Fine Motor DQ^a	47.9	26.1	51.3	21.6	−1.1	20	0.28	0.14
Receptive Language DQ^a	27.6	21.5	38.7	24.2	−4.4	18	<0.001**	0.48
Expressive Language DQ^a	32.6	18.7	40.7	21.8	−4.0	20	0.001**	0.40
Overall MSEL DQ^b	36.8	19.7	46.7	22.6	−5.6	18	<0.001**	0.47
Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales-II Scale scores
Receptive Communication^c	7.6	3.5	9.3	3.4	−3.2	15	0.005**	0.49
Expressive Communication^c	7.6	2.8	7.8	2.8	−0.5	17	0.64	0.07
Written Communication^c	11.7	2.4	11.9	3.7	−0.3	17	0.76	0.06
Personal Daily Living Skills^c	8.2	2.5	8.2	2.0	−0.2	16	0.88	0.00
Domestic Daily Living Skills^c	10.0	2.1	10.6	3.3	−1.0	17	0.34	0.22
Community Daily Living Skills^c	9.8	2.7	9.2	3.4	1.3	17	0.20	0.20
Interpersonal Relationships^c	8.1	2.5	8.7	3.0	−1.2	16	0.24	0.22
Play and Leisure Time^c	7.9	2.0	7.5	2.1	1.3	15	0.20	−0.20^g
Coping Skills^c	11.4	3.1	11.5	2.9	−0.2	15	0.84	0.03
Gross Motor Skills^c	9.3	2.8	11.7	2.7	−4.9	16	<0.001**	0.87
Fine Motor Skills^c	9.3	3.9	9.7	2.8	−0.9	15	0.40	0.12
Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales -II Standard Domain Scores
Communication^d	61.6	14.1	65.3	20.1	−1.1	15	0.30	0.21
Socialisation^d	66.8	13.0	67.1	14.5	−0.2	15	0.88	0.02
Daily Living Skills^d	64.2	14.1	64.9	16.7	−0.3	16	0.75	0.05
Motor Skills^d	66.4	17.8	73.7	14.2	−2.7	15	0.02*	0.45
Adaptive Behaviour Composite^d	61.9	13.9	63.6	14.4	−0.9	14	0.38	0.12
SCQ Total Score ^e	18.5	7.2	15.7	7.1	2.2	18	0.04*	−0.39^g

Note: * p<.05, ** p<0.01, SCQ = Social Communication Questionnaire.
a. DQ = (age equivalent score/chronological age) × 100.
b. Overall MSEL DQ = (Visual Reception DQ + Fine Motor DQ+ Receptive Language DQ + Expressive Language DQ)/4.
c. V-Scale score (mean: 15, SD: 3).
d. Standard score (mean: 100, SD: 15).
e. Range = 0–40. Scores of 15 or more denote probable ASD.
f. Following the recommendations of Dunlap et al. [31] Cohen’s d sores were calculated using the pooled standard deviation score uncorrected for the correlation between pre-post scores.
g. Negative effect sizes denote a reduction from pre-to-post. For the SCQ Total Score, lower scores are indicative of fewer ASD symptoms.

ISSN: 1471-2431