A screening questionnaire for Asperger syndrome and other high-functioning autism spectrum disorders in school age children.

Kahng et al. (1999) built a 27-item checklist called the ASSQ.

Parents and teachers each circle how true each item is for a child.

The team tested it on kids who already had, or might have, high-functioning ASD.

The ASSQ scores lined up with later clinical diagnoses.

Both parents and teachers had to fill it out; one alone missed too much.

The tool took only a few minutes and needed no special kit.

Posserud et al. (2009) ran the same checklist on a whole town of 7- to 9-year-olds.

They found the same cut-off works in regular schools, not just clinics.

Kopp et al. (2011) added girl-typical items like "avoids demands" because the original ASSQ often missed females.

Mattila et al. (2012) later showed Finnish kids need a slightly higher cut-off, so culture can shift the numbers.

If you screen in schools, use both parent and teacher forms and mark 17 or higher.

For girls, watch items added by the ASSQ-REV; the plain ASSQ may under-count them.

Swap in local cut-offs if you work with non-English families.