The Modified- Classroom ObservationScheduletoMeasureIntenticnaCommunication( M-COSMIC): EvaluationofReliabilityandValidity

Modified COSMIC 25

pointing to pictures in the colouring book). This thereby provided many opportunities for
children both to follow their pointing gestures and to provide a communicated response.

Interestingly, the acts of showing and giving were seen more frequently in the context of
free-play than during the structured activity. This finding may have been due to the materials
available and the reduced level of structure imposed by the teacher during this context. The toys
available during free play were more varied and probably more exciting for the children than
those used for the teacher-led activity, thereby affording greater number of opportunities for
children to initiate joint attention with another person about a toy of interest. This differentiation
of coded behaviours across the activity and free play settings therefore demonstrates sensitivity
of the M-COSMIC to variation of types of social activity in the naturalistic settings for which it
was designed; further supporting validity and usefulness of the measure.

6.4 Limitations of the study and measure

Despite the promising results from this initial evaluation of the Modified-COSMIC, the
measure will require additional evaluation to establish its readiness for research or clinical use.
In aiming to increase utility of the original COSMIC we investigated skills in children attending
both mainstream and special needs school settings. Current sub-group sample sizes were
insufficient to permit sub-analysis of communication behaviours by type of school setting or by
child language level. However, given that communication behaviours in children with ASD are
influenced by the characteristics of the involved partners, future consideration of such effects
along with the effect of type of school setting (including teaching styles and specializations, or
the ability level of participant peers) is important. Similarly, duration of the behaviour sampling
may affect results. In the current study, sampling occurred over a 5-minute structured activity
and 10-minutes of free play. Equivalence of sampling time across contexts may have changed

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