This study estimates the sensitivity and specificity of the social communication questionnaire (SCQ) for autistic spectrum disorders in preschool children at high risk for developmental problems referred to a tertiary centre and compares the predictions of the SCQ and the referrer. The SCQ was completed by 81 parents prior to multidisciplinary assessment and compared with the final diagnosis. The sensitivity and specificity were 93% and 58% for children aged 2-6, and 100 and 62% for children aged 3-5 years, with a cut-off score of 11. The SCQ performed better than referrers. Low-specificity means the SCQ is not suitable as a diagnostic tool but will assist clinicians and tertiary services in selecting children with developmental problems who require autism-specific assessment.

Psychopathy has emerged as one of the constructs most predictive of violence risk in the forensic field. The Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) has previously been\ud found to have acceptable reliability and validity in a sample of offenders with intellectual disability, but its predictive validity in this group has yet to be established. This prospective study examined the relative ability of the PCL-R and two other instruments, the Historical Clinical Risk-20 (HCR-20) and the Emotional\ud Problem Scales’ Behaviour Ratings Scale, to predict officially recorded institutional aggression. A sample of 60 offenders with intellectual disability in a high security\ud forensic psychiatric setting was followed up for a period of 12 months. The PCL-R 20-item total, the PCL-R 13-item total, and PCL-R Factor 1 and Factor 2 scores did not significantly predict any type of aggressive behaviour. In contrast, the two more clinically based measures significantly predicted both interpersonal physical\ud and verbal/property aggression. A primary justification for using the PCL-R in forensic settings is the evidence for its association with violence. Further studies examining the relationship between psychopathy, aggression, and violent recidivism in broader samples of offenders with ID are therefore imperative

The aim of the study was to determine the effect of an oral egg challenge in egg sensitized children on parental perceptions relating to their child's allergy. A questionnaire was completed by parents for 167 children attending a tertiary paediatric clinic with egg sensitization. The questionnaires included 10 questions concerning parental perceptions of their child's egg allergy. Parental perceptions of those children who had not had an egg challenge (n = 83) were compared with those whose children had a positive (n = 27) and those with a negative (n = 57) egg challenge. A significant difference (p = < or =0.02) was observed between challenge positive(CP) and challenge negative (CN) subjects in reported changes to lifestyle and the fact that more parents in the CN group expected little or no future inconvenience for the child. The responses of parents whose child had undergone an egg challenge differed significantly (p = < or =0.005) from those not challenged with a significant reduction in the following parameters; the effect on out-of-home care arrangements, the perception of being more severe as compared to other common childhood illnesses, whether they found egg allergy to be moderately or very stressful, whether their lifestyle was changed, the expectation of little or no future discomfort for the child and whether others treated the child differently. The performance of an egg challenge was associated with reduced adverse parental concerns. For 6/10 parameters, expectations concerning egg allergy in children who had been challenged were significantly better than those who had never been challenged irrespective of the challenge outcome. The greater certainty provided by the performance of a food challenge may be a positive outcome in both CP and CN children.