Early Dyadic Communication Lab

Our overall aims for this project are to expand screening and early identification of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other neurodevelopmental disorders to the Latinx Spanish-speaking population.

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Early identification of ASD in non-English speaking children often relies upon translation of English ASD screening measures. This project is a direct comparison between two translation methodologies, a traditional forward-back approach compared to a rigorous cultural adaptation approach. Spanish-speaking caregivers of children 8-16 months old are randomly assigned to complete either a forward-back Spanish translation or a rigorous translation of the First Years Inventory.

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Most translation teams employ a forward-back approach, despite data suggesting that this method may result in poor psychometric properties, including increased frequency of false negatives and/or false positives. The rigorous method of translation and cultural adaptation may yield better psychometric properties, but no studies have compared the two approaches directly.

 

Statistical comparison of scores across groups in this study revealed that the two Spanish translations we made using two different translation methodologies were psychometrically different. That is, parents taking one Spanish version responded differently to the items than parents taking the other Spanish version. Interestingly, neither Spanish translation was psychometrically equivalent to the English version. This points to the difficulty of translating parent-report surveys and using them in culturally distinct populations. More cultural adaptation may be necessary to successfully achieve psychometric equivalence. Parents who saw both Spanish translations of the survey items had a slight preference for the more rigorous cultural adaptation approach.