The Use of MPR Scales of Development in the Assessment of Children at Risk of ASD

Objectives. Early diagnosis of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) allows parents to assess the validity of their concerns, develop individual support programs, and begin working with the child as early as possible, which will lead to greater success in educational support. To achieve these goals, a comprehensive assessment is needed, including the use of standardized tools for assessing the level of current development and identifying special characteristics of children’s functioning. In order to determine the level of development, the possibilities of using the Merril-Palmer Revised (MPR) Development Scales in assessment of children with ASD were studied.

Methods. The pilot study involved eight children (5 toddlers and 3 preschoolers; 6 males, 2 females; Mage=2.8, SD=0.8). Children were divided into “risk of ASD” and “autism” diagnostic groups according to their ADOS-2 results. All participants were also tested using the MPR. Statistical analysis was conducted in IBM SPSS Statistics 23, using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis with Pearson and Spearman criteria.

Results. According to the data obtained, the development index of all children is below the age norm (M=52, SD=26), ranging from “significant developmental delay” to “below average developmental level” and does not depend on the severity of autistic symptoms. It was found that scores in the cognitive sphere correlate positively with scores obtained in fine motor skills (r=0,93, p=0,01); visual-motor coordination (r=0,95, p=0,01); speech comprehension (r=0,87, p=0,01). The results on the scale assessing protest behavior during the examination cor relate negatively with the level of development of the socio-emotional sphere (r=–0,75, p=0,05) and self-care skills (r=–0,79, p=0,05).

Conclusions. Experience using the MPR Scales in evaluation of toddlers and preschoolers with ASD has shown that the tool is informative and allows a comprehensive assessment of developmental indicators in children with this nosology, which suggests its use in developing effective interventions. The limitation of the study is the small sample size, and the results obtained are planned to be verified with a larger number of participants.

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