Measurement of autism: a review of four screening measures

Using a key word search on electronic databases, two relevant journals and relevant review references, four measures of autistic symptoms (Childhood Asperger Syndrome Test, Autism Behavior Checklist, Social Communication Questionnaire, Social Responsiveness Scale) were reviewed with reference to their ability to discriminate the three major components of autism and measure across the whole spectrum of autism. None of the reviewed measures were able to effectively tap into and differentiate between all points on the spectrum. Further work is required to assess the sensitivity of the measures to independence between domains. The development of a measure sensitive to symptom change/continuity across development may be useful.