Development of the Conversation Participation Rating Scale

Intervention Planning Implications for Two School-Age Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

Purpose: 

School-age children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have pervasive challenges in social interactions with peers. This study examined the feasibility of eliciting children's perceptions of their conversation participation with peers for the purposes of assessment and intervention planning.

Methods: 

Two school-age children with ASD completed a newly developed self-report measure, the Conversation Participation Rating Scale (CPRS), designed for children and adolescents between the ages of 7 and 16 years, with social communication and peer interaction difficulties. Descriptive analyses examined agreement and discrepancy among child self-report, parent report, and standardized social language tests.

Results: 

Both children provided a range of responses on the CPRS, revealing participation strengths as well as awareness of specific activity limitations and participation restrictions. Both children scored within the normal range on a social language test, even though parent report measures revealed significant concerns with pragmatic language and social skills.

Discussion: 

The CPRS results contributed unique information to the assessment process. These results provide preliminary support for the feasibility of using a self-report conversation participation measure as a method for obtaining children's unique perspective of social communication activities and challenges in school settings.