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Poster #50 - School Readiness Assessments Are Weakly Related to Later Educational Outcomes for Ethnically Diverse Children with Autism

Fri, March 22, 2:30 to 3:45pm, Baltimore Convention Center, Floor: Level 1, Exhibit Hall B

Integrative Statement

Although school readiness assessments are well known to predict later academic performance for typically developing, middle class, White children in the US, much less is known about such longitudinal predictive relations for ethnically diverse children, and for children with developmental disabilities. Furthermore, few longitudinal studies examine academic outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using ecologically valid measures, such as school district high-stakes standardized test scores, retention, and end-of-year grades.
Using data from the Miami School Readiness Project, we assessed the school readiness skills of a large and ethnically diverse sample (N = 437; 68% Hispanic/Latino, 16% Black, 16% White/other) of children with ASD enrolled in public-school pre-K programs for children with disabilities at age 4, and longitudinally followed their academic progress in public elementary school (K-5th grade) with administrative school record data. School readiness assessments included the Language Accomplishment Profile-Diagnostic (LAP-D - cognitive, language, fine and gross motor skills) and parent and preschool teacher reports of child behavioral and social skills with the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA). Academic achievement measures included end-of-year teacher-assigned grades (GPA) for each grade, standardized math and reading test scores in grades 3-5, and academic retention or suspension at any point in elementary school. Multiple regression analyses (logistic regression for the categorical outcomes of retention or suspension) were conducted with demographic variables (gender, ethnicity, poverty/FRL status) entered in step 1, and the school readiness assessments (LAPD and/or DECA scores) added in step 2 to predict academic outcomes one at a time.
Unlike what has been found for mainstream typically developing children with similar measures, and with these very school readiness measures in the same ethnically diverse community with typical children, there were few predictive associations between the readiness assessments and later academic outcomes for this sample. Preschool language and fine motor skills were positively associated only with kindergarten GPA (Betas = .26-.34) but not for teacher marks (or anything else) in the later grades. Cognitive skills at age 4 were only related to GPA in grade 2 and 3 (Betas = .35-.49). Gross motor skills at age 4 were negatively related to GPA in 2nd grade and reading and math scores in G4 and G5 and positively related to getting suspended later in school. Thus, strong early gross motor skills (i.e., being bigger and stronger) may be a liability for minority children on the autistic spectrum. Parent and teacher reports of social and behavioral skills were unrelated to later performance. Our results suggest either that the LAPD and DECA are not sensitive enough or appropriate assessments for children of color with ASD, or other factors not assessed here (i.e., discrimination, early school experiences, quality of special education and intervention services received at home and at school) account for much more of the variance in the later academic outcomes for children of color with autism than is the case for typically developing children.

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