Évaluer la compréhension verbale d’enfants avec TSA et déficience intellectuelle : impact du support tablette vs papier.

Context: Verbal comprehension is a key component of language development. However, this component is particularly deficient in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID). Currently, its evaluation is complicated, especially because existing tests are not adapted to the cognitive and sensory particularities of children with ASD and ID. Recent research shows that digital tools are motivating and easy to use with these children. In this study, we aimed to assess the impact of the support tablet vs paper on the passation of a verbal comprehension test. Methods: In this study, 12 children with ASD and ID with a level of verbal comprehension between 18 and 36 months of age were evaluated on a tablet and on paper with a lexical comprehension test and a syntactic comprehension test. Results: Although the medium did not influence the children's scores on the two tests, the tablet test was significantly shorter than the paper test. In addition, the scores on the behavioral grid were better when the children were evaluated on the tablet, highlighting a better adaptation to the situation and a decrease in the specific sensory behaviors of patients with ASD. Conclusion: These observations show that the use of a digital support for the evaluation of children with ASD can encourage their participation in the proposed tests.