Performance of the Social Communication Questionnaire in children receiving preschool special education services

Abstract

To assess the performance of the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) in identifying children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), this study screened 268 children identified as receiving preschool special education services. Parent-reported ASD diagnosis, education department recorded autism special education classification, ADI-R autism, and ADOS autism and ASD were considered as alternative criterion measures of ASD diagnosis. The validity of the SCQ in this population was examined, with a special focus on examining alternative cut-points for indicating ASD. The predictive ability of the SCQ in this population was comparable to that reported for other samples. In addition, findings suggested that a cut-point below the recommended threshold would likely be useful for research studies seeking to identify ASD cases from the population of children receiving special education services. The cut-point selected for use in clinical settings may, however, differ.