Screening young people for autism with the developmental behavior checklist.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether a subset of items from the Developmental Behavior Checklist (DBC) could be selected to construct a reliable autism screening tool.


METHODS
A 29-item scale-the Developmental Behavior Checklist-Autism Screening Algorithm (DBC-ASA)-was developed by using items from the DBC and evaluated in a sample comprising 180 children who met criteria for autism and 180 controls matched for age, sex, and IQ range.


RESULTS
This study found that the DBC-ASA has good validity in discriminating young people (4-18 years) with autism and IQ ranging from normal to severe intellectual disability from others using a cutoff score of 17.


CONCLUSIONS
The DBC-ASA is an effective autism screening questionnaire for at-risk young people, including those with intellectual disability.
Brereton
Avril V
AV
Monash University Centre for Developmental Psychiatry, Monash Medical Centre, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.
Tonge
Bruce J
BJ
Mackinnon
Andrew J
AJ
Einfeld
Stewart L
SL
D000293:Adolescent; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D012720:Severity of Illness Index