A screening questionnaire for Asperger syndrome and other high-functioning autism spectrum disorders in school age children

The high-functioning Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ) is a 27-item checklist for completion by lay informants when assessing symptoms characteristic of Asperger syndrome and other high-functioning autism spectrum disorders in children and adolescents with normal intelligence or mild mental retardation. Data for parent and teacher ratings in a clinical sample are presented along with various measures of reliability and validity. Optimal cutoff scores were estimated, using Receiver Operating Characteristic analysis. Findings indicate that the ASSQ is a useful brief screening device for the identification of autism spectrum disorders in clinical settings.