Validity study of the Autism Spectrum Disorders-Diagnostic for Children (ASD-DC)

The Autism Spectrum Disorders-Diagnostic for Children (ASD-DC) is a 40-item Likert format scale designed to serve in the diagnosis of children and adolescents from 2 to 16 years of age. The reliability and factor structure of the scale have been established in previous research. Studies I and 2 were designed to evaluate the validity of the measure by establishing cut-off scores for 161 participants falling into the categories of typical development, atypical development/psychopathology. and ASD (i.e., autism, PDD-NOS, and Asperger's syndrome), as assessed by a licensed psychologist using ICD-10 and DSM-IV-TR criteria and in conjunction with standardized measures of autism (ADI-R, CARS, or CHAT) and Asperger's syndrome (CAST, GADS, or KADI). In study 3, the accuracy of ASD scores was compared with ICD-10 and DSM-IV-TR criteria for autism, PDD-NOS, and Asperger's syndrome in 219 children. The ASD-DC, which can be administered in 10-15 min proved to be a relatively accurate and valid diagnostic instrument when compared to the diagnostic methods described above. The implications of these data for further development of this scale are discussed. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier Ltd.