The development and validation of The Social Referencing Observation Scale as a screening instrument for autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

The Social Referencing Observation Scale (SoROS) was developed to assess social referencing behaviors and as a screening instrument to identify children at risk of autism spectrum disorder. It is quick and easy for preschool teachers to administer. The instrument assesses social referencing behaviors in three different scenarios, where the administrator expresses fear, pain, and joy. The participants were 56 children with autism and 204 typically developing children aged between 2.6 and 5 years. The inter‐rater agreement was high, and we found significant differences in scores between the autism spectrum disorder group and the group of typically developing children. The SoROS predicted an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis with excellent sensitivity and specificity. More research is needed with a larger and more diverse group of children.