title: The Social Communication Questionnaire for adults with intellectual disability: SCQ-AID.
abstract: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently co-occurs with intellectual disability (ID) and often remains undiagnosed until adulthood. The Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) is a widely used measure to screen for ASD. To improve the utility of the SCQ for adults with ID, the aim of this study was to develop an ID-specific and adult appropriate algorithm for the SCQ using a core set of valid items. These items were identified in one sample (N = 226) and further cross-validated in a second, independent sample (N = 225) from Germany, England and the U.S. The newly developed algorithm has 24 items compared with the 40 items in the original instrument. The reduced item core set yielded similar diagnostic validity as the original algorithm with good sensitivity values (0.81-0.89) and low specificity values (0.62-0.72). Overall, these results suggest that the removed items may not carry diagnostically relevant information in adults with ID; thus, excluding these items may result in a more efficient and age-appropriate screening measure for this population. However, due to the low specificity values, a comprehensive assessment is essential for a final diagnostic assignment. Autism Res 2017, 10: 1481-1490. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Child and Family Studies, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Olivia
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Derks
authors.affiliation: Department for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Evangelisches Krankenhaus Königin Elisabeth Herzberge, Herzbergstr. 79, Berlin, 10365, Germany.|Department of Education and Psychology, Division of Clinical Psychological Intervention, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heinrich
authors.affiliation: TEACCH Autism Program, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.
authors.forename: Whitney
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Brooks
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Child and Family Studies, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Paula
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6014-7539
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sterkenburg
authors.affiliation: Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McCarthy
authors.affiliation: Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.|School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Underwood
authors.affiliation: Department for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Evangelisches Krankenhaus Königin Elisabeth Herzberge, Herzbergstr. 79, Berlin, 10365, Germany.
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sappok
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001604:Berlin; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008131:London; D008297:Male; D009820:Ohio; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012919:Social Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: assessment; autism spectrum disorder (ASD); intellectual disability (ID); social communication questionnaire (SCQ); validity