Can questions about social interaction correctly identify preschool aged children with autism?

Aim We developed a questionnaire to assess social development ( SIQ ) in preschool children. Social development is often not included in medical assessment, though it may assist in early identification of autism spectrum disorder ( ASD ). Methods Parents of 108 children with ASD , speech and language disorders, or ‘developmental concerns’, recruited from a clinical developmental assessment and community child health service, completed the SIQ , and also a C hildhood A utism R ating S cale ( CARS ) assessment. Receiver O perator C haracteristic ( ROC ) curves were generated to assess the performance of different questionnaire score thresholds in correctly identifying children with a CARS score of 30 or more. Logistic regression models were used to identify the questions which had the most predictive value for a CARS score of 30 or more. Results An SIQ score of 14 or more correctly identified children with a CARS ≥30 with a sensitivity of 85%, specificity 85%, positive likelihood ratio ( LR ) 8.3 and negative LR 0.2. Two questions were identified as most predictive of ASD . Conclusions The SIQ may assist clinicians in assessing social development and in making decisions about referral for autism assessment. Evaluation of the SIQ at the point of entry to a clinical service is needed.