The Structured Preschool Participation Observation (SPO) for Children with ASD: Adaptation, Initial Psychometric Properties, and Children’s Participation

Abstract

Aims: Due to the lack of tools evaluating participation of children with ASD in the educational setting, this study aimed to adapt the Structured Preschool Participation Observation (SPO), which assess the participation of preschool children attending mainstream-educational settings to children with ASD attending non-inclusive special education (content validity), to measure its initial psychometric properties (internal reliability, inter-rater reliability), and to describe children’s participation characteristics, creating an effective tool to fill this gap.

Methods: Content validity was evaluated by 21 experts using questionnaires. Thirty-five children with ASD were observed in their educational setting using the adapted tool (SPO-ASD).

Results: Content validity was satisfactory regarding the items and their classification into occupational areas. Moderate to excellent internal consistency (α = .73–.92) and inter-rater reliability (ICC = .61–.95, p<.05) were found for all scales and most areas. Children’s participation frequency was high in learning and activities of daily living (ADL), low in play and social participation. Performance level was low in social participation. Enjoyment level was low, and needed assistance in ADL was high.

Conclusions: Based on our initial evaluation, the SPO-ASD may be suitable for assessing participation of children with ASD attending special education preschools. Additional studies are needed to more securely establish its psychometric properties.

KEYWORDS:

• Autistic spectrum disorder
• preschool
• participation
• assessment
• reliability
• validity

Declaration of Authorship Contribution

Anat Golos is the first author, the primary investigator (PI) and the corresponding author. Sophi Itkin Chapani is the co-first author. All authors were the researchers and contributed to this paper.

Research Ethics

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (No. 28032018) and the Israeli Ministry of Education (No. 10087).

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the occupational therapists and the educational teams who participated in this study, as well as to the children and their parents.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific support.

Notes on contributors

Anat Golos

Anat Golos (Ph.D.) is a lecturer and researcher in the School of Occupational Therapy, the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. Her research focuses on participation in daily activities, quality of life, and the impact of socio-cultural environmental factors among various populations living in the community (e.g., children and youth with neurodevelopmental disorders, old adults and at-risk populations). Additionally, she focuses on cultural issues (cultural competence and cultural sensitivity) and medical education studies.

Sophi Chapani Itkin

Sophi Chapani Itkin (MSc) is an occupational therapist (OTR) with ASD expertise, who works in ALUT organization. She completed her thesis research in the School of Occupational Therapy, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.

Hadas Ben-Zur

Hadas Ben-Zur (MSc) is an occupational therapist (OTR) with ASD expertise, who works in the Ministry of Education. She completed her thesis research in School of Occupational Therapy, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.