Autism screening questionnaire: diagnostic validity.
BACKGROUND
Good interview and diagnostic measures for autism and other pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs) are available but there is a lack of a good screening questionnaire.


OBJECTIVE
To develop and test a screening questionnaire based on items in the best available diagnostic interview--the Autism Diagnostic Interview--Revised (ADI-R).


METHODS
A 40-item scale, the Autism Screening Questionnaire (ASQ), was developed and tested on a sample of 160 individuals with PDD and 40 with non-PDD diagnoses.


RESULTS
The ASQ has good discriminative validity with respect to the separation of PDD from non-PDD diagnoses at all IQ levels, with a cut-off of 15 proving most effective. The differentiation between autism and other varieties of PDD was weaker.


CONCLUSIONS
The ASQ is an effective screening questionnaire for PDD.
Berument
S K
SK
MRC Child Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, London.
Rutter
M
M
Lord
C
C
Pickles
A
A
Bailey
A
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D020817:Asperger Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019955:Conduct Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005600:Fragile X Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000175:diagnosis; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D015518:Rett Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires