Reproducibility of an instrument for motor assessment of youth with autism

Abstract

Introduction: Individuals with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) have motor impairments that precede communication and socialization disorders. Evaluative instruments compatible with the real possibilities and specificities of patients with ASD, and who quantitatively and qualitatively translate the data in which is wished to intervene with therapeutic actions, are important both in the scope of research and in the clinical evaluation of physiotherapists. Objective: To test the interobserver and intraobserver reproducibility of the instrument “Gross Motor Assessment of Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder” (GMA-AUT checklist). Methods: The sample consisted of 34 individuals with ASD, aged between 6 and 18 years. The interobserver reproducibility was performed in a blinded manner by two physiotherapists experts in the ASD area of treatment. Intraobserver reproducibility was performed by one of the evaluators on two different days, with a gap of seven days and without access to data from the first evaluation. To verify the reproducibility, percentage of agreement and kappa statistics (k) were used, with the weighted kappa and, for the instrument scores, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Results: The GMA-AUT checklist showed excellent intraobserver agreement, with k ≥ 0.75 and ICC ˃ 0.75. Interobserver reproducibility ranged from good to sufficient agreement with k between 0.40 and 0.75 and ICC ˃ 0.75 for the most part. Conclusion: The GMA-AUT checklist had excellent intraobserver reproducibility and, therefore, can be reliably used for assessments of individuals aged between 6 and 18 years with ASD.