Simple and low-cost observational-tools to detect symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are still necessary. The OERA is a new assessment tool to screen children eliciting observable behaviors with no substantial knowledge on ASD required. The sample was 99 children aged 3-10: 76 with ASD and 23 without ASD (11/23 had intellectual…

Borrowing from a clinical psychology observational methodology, thin-slice observations were used to assess autism characteristics in toddlers. Thin-slices are short observations taken from a longer behavior stream which are assigned ratings by multiple raters using a 5-point scale. The raters' observations are averaged together to assign a…

The Emotional and Behavioral Screener (EBS) is a universal screening instrument designed to identify students whose excessive problem behaviors put them at risk of the education disability category of emotional disturbance (ED). This article reports findings from three studies that address the reliability and validity of the EBS. Studies 1 and 2…

Purpose: In most cases, caregiver questionnaires are completed by mothers and seldom by fathers. Although parents tend to have moderate to high congruence, some studies suggest that differences between the mothers' and the fathers' answers can complicate diagnostic decision-making. The aim of this study was to determine mother-father response…

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the intrarater reliability of "DSM-IV" ADHD symptoms. Method: Two-hundred-two children referred for attention problems and 49 comparison children (all 7-12 years) were rated by parents and teachers on the identical "DSM-IV" items presented in two different formats, the…

Three studies are reported addressing the reliability of the Scale for Assessing Emotional Disturbance (SAED), a standardized, norm-reference measure linked to the federal definition of emotional disturbance (ED). Results indicate the SAED possesses acceptable test-retest reliability and reasonable interrater reliability and can assist in the…

A study involving 30 Argentineans with autism evaluated the validity of the Autism Diagnostic Inventory-Telephone Screening in Spanish (ADI-TSS). The final version of the ADI-TSS could be assessed in 20 to 40 minutes and demonstrated a high validity, high interrater reliability, and high internal consistency. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

This study assessed the interrater reliability of a Swedish version of the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), an instrument for screening and diagnosis of autism. The CARS was used for rating autistic behavior by two investigators in 25 children. Results indicated fair to excellent agreement. Aspects of validity and reliability are discussed.…