Author(s)

Kyongje Sung^1,2*, Monika Rozycka^1*, Dana Boatman Reich^1#, Jessica O’Grady¹, Kathleen Keller¹, Barry Gordon^1,3

¹Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
²Counseling, Special Education, Neuroscience Division Emirates College for Advanced Education, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
³Cognitive Science Department, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Sensory abnormalities are common in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) but are often difficult to assess using standard behavioral methods. Evoked potentials provide objective, non-invasive electrophysiological measures of neural sensory processing that could be useful for clinical and investigative studies of individuals with low-functioning autism who are unable to perform behavioral testing. Despite increased use, the reliability of sensory evoked potentials has not been established for individuals with low-functioning autism. Establishing reliability is important for validating the utility of sensory evoked potentials. In this study, we explored the feasibility of assessing the test-retest reliability of sensory evoked potentials using repeat recordings, acquired over 2.5- and 6-month intervals, from a minimally verbal adult with low-functioning autism. Repeat auditory and visual evoked potential recordings showed high test-retest reliability, with cross-correlation coefficients ≥ 0.80. This case demonstrates the feasibility of establishing test-retest reliability for individuals with low-functioning autism and supports the utility of sensory evoked potentials in clinical and investigative ASD studies.

Evoked Potentials, Autism, Reliability, Reproducibility, Low-Functioning Autism

Sung, K. , Rozycka, M. , Reich, D. , O’Grady, J. , Keller, K. and Gordon, B. (2020) Test-Retest Reliability of Sensory Evoked Potentials in Low-Functioning Autism: A Case Report. Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science, 10, 537-547. doi: 10.4236/jbbs.2020.1012033.