Autism Behavior Checklist for Disability Estimation: A Preliminary Field Tryout

Abstract

This study intended to develop a scale of symptom listing for differential diagnosis of children with autism against other developmental disabilities. Additionally, it also seeks to develop categories or various risk levels to different severity levels of autism. After several rounds of ground trials, the final list of 181-item covering seven domains was tried on a sample of 74 children covering autism, mental retardation, expressive speech delays, hearing impairment and slow learners. Results indicate that the tool has adequate degree of internal consistency and discriminant validity. The tool shows promise of being a culturally appropriate tool in the Indian context.