The autism symptom interview, school-age: A brief telephone interview to identify autism spectrum disorders in 5-to-12-year-old children.
This study reports on the initial validation of the Autism Symptom Interview (ASI), School-Age, a brief (15-20 min) phone interview derived from questions from the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R). The ASI, School-Age was administered by interviewers with minimal training to parents of children ages 5 to 12 who had all been previously identified with (or referred for assessment of) ASD or another neurodevelopmental disorder. Children then underwent a comprehensive assessment to determine a best-estimate clinical diagnosis of ASD (n = 159) or non-ASD (e.g. language disorder, intellectual disability, ADHD; n = 130). Clinicians who conducted the assessments were blind to ASI results. ROC analyses compared ASI scores to clinical diagnosis. Due to the small number of participants with non-ASD diagnoses who were classified as nonverbal (i.e. not yet using phrases on a daily basis), it was not possible to assess sensitivity and specificity of the nonverbal algorithm in this sample. The verbal algorithm yielded a sensitivity of 0.87 (95% CI = 0.81-0.92) and a specificity of 0.62 (95% CI = 0.53-0.70). When used in conjunction with the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), sensitivity and specificity were 0.82 (95% CI = 0.74-0.88) and 0.92 (95% CI = 0.86-0.96), respectively. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were both excellent. Particularly for verbal school age children, the ASI may serve as a useful tool to more quickly ascertain or classify children with ASD for research or clinical triaging purposes. Additional data collection is underway to determine the utility of the ASI in children who are younger and/or nonverbal. Autism Res 2017, 10: 78-88. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, U.S.A.
Somer L
SL
Bishop
Center for Autism and the Developing Brain, Weill Cornell Medical College, White Plains, U.S.A.
Marisela
M
Huerta
Department of Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, U.S.A.
Katherine
K
Gotham
Lovisenberg Hospital and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
Karoline
K
Alexandra Havdahl
Department of Biostatistics, King's College London, London, U.K.
Andrew
A
Pickles
Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center Cincinnati, U.S.A.
Amie
A
Duncan
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, U.S.A.
Vanessa
V
Hus Bal
Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, U.S.A.
Lisa
L
Croen
Center for Autism and the Developing Brain, Weill Cornell Medical College, White Plains, U.S.A.
Catherine
C
Lord
D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000175:diagnosis; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013689:Telephone
assessment; neurodevelopmental disorders; rapid ascertainment; screening