Measures:
Social Information Processing
The Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy Child Faces 2 (DANVA-2)
[13] assesses the ability of individuals to properly identify the
facial expressions of children across four emotions (happiness, sadness,
anger, and fear) and two levels of emotional intensity (high and low).
Participants viewed 24 faces and were asked to select the emotion that
they believed was being depicted. The DANVA-2 has established validity
and has been shown to differentiate clinical groups [14].
The Literal Truth, Ironic Criticism, and Empathic Praise Task (Irony &
Empathy) [15] presents six situations in picture form along with a
recorded narration of the situation (raking a pile of leaves, erasing a
blackboard, making a cake). The narration has neutral, ironic, or
empathic intonation and participants must properly identify the
intention of the narration based on the image and recording. This
measure is frequently used to identify SIP deficits in youth with
traumatic brain injury [16].
Social Skills
The Social Skills Improvement System (SSiS) [17] is a widely-used
parent reported measure of social skills, academic competence, and
problem behaviors. Caregivers rate statements on social skills and
problem behaviors on a scale from 0-3 (0 being never, 3 being almost
always) over the past two months (i.e., expresses feelings when wronged;
starts conversations with peers; gets distracted easily). A standard
score for social skills is calculated where higher scores indicate
better social skills.
Social Adjustment
The Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS)
Pediatric Peer Relationships-Short Form (PRS-SF) is a validated self and
parent report measure of peer relationships [18]. Participants rate
eight statements regarding peer relationships on a 0-4 scale (0 being
never, 4 being almost always) over the past seven days (i.e., I felt
accepted by other kids my age, I was able to count on my friends).
Appropriate items are reverse coded to produce a total T score, where
higher scores indicate better peer relationships. The self-report PRS-SF
has demonstrated significant correlations with peer-reported metrics of
social acceptance [18].