Assessment of social competence by preschool teachers in children with the Autism Spectrum Disorder

Background: Impaired social interaction and communication are beside a restricted repertoire of activities and behaviours the core features of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). As these feature manifests themselves by the age of three they may greatly hamper the child's inclusion into preschool institution and may require special educational interventions.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess the behavioural characteristics of children with ASD by preschool teachers by using the Slovenian adaptation of the Social Competence and Behavioral Evaluation (LaFreniere, Dumas, Zupancic, Gril & Kavcic, 2001).

Methods: Our study included 33 children between the ages 31 and 80 months of age (M=54 months) who were given the diagnosis of ASD based on DSM-IV criteria. The teachers observed and rated the children’s social adaptation and functioning within the preschool classroom.

Results: The group of children with ASD received lower general competence scores (t=9.77, p<.001) on the SBCE, as well as lower scores on the externalizing problems (t=2.63, p<.013) and internalizing problems summary scales (t=7.56, p<.001). Teachers noted the greatest difficulties on the social competence summary scale (t=12.88, p<.001), with 79% of children scoring in the clinical range. Teacher's ratings on basic scales also revelled children with ASD included in the study had specific difficulties in emotional regulation, peer- and adult-relationships. They were rated as more anxious (t=9.17, p<.001), isolated (t=12.36, p<.001) and egotistical (t=9.84, p<.001).

Conclusions: The results indicate that the group of Slovenian preschool children with ASD included in our study shows a different pattern of behavioural features than the normative sample. The observed behavioural difficulties may be a starting point to help teachers plan the individualized intervention program in the preschool setting.