Behavior Rating Scales as Screeners for Autism? A Closer Look at the CAB-P and CBCL/1.5-5

In recent years, autism diagnoses have steadily increased, putting a substantial emphasis on early identification as a crucial component for intervention. Autism diagnoses, however, often require a thorough and comprehensive assessment from a highly trained practitioner. Although ideal, such assessments are often time consuming and expensive, creating a need for a quicker, more simplistic method of screening for autism. Clinicians customarily used behavior rating scales to identify a number of various problem behaviors and/or disorders. The purpose of the present study is to examine the utility of two common behavior rating scales in accurately discriminating between a group of preschoolers with autism and a group of referred preschoolers with autism. Parents/guardians of 74 preschoolers with and without autism, who had been referred to a child development clinic due to behavioral or developmental concerns, completed both behavior rating scales as part of a comprehensive assessment. Although analyses revealed significant differences between the two groups of participants on two of the scales from one of the instruments, these findings demonstrate little clinical value for screening purposes.

Name thesis:degree_name

Specialist in Education

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Department of Psychology

Year

2009

Author dc:creator

• McReynolds, Brandy Mickele

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Carl Myers (Director),Dr. Lekeisha Meyer,Dr. Elizabeth Jones

• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• autistic preschoolers
• behavior rating scales
• developmental disorders
• Clinical Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/68

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.wku.edu:theses-1068