Addressing Quality of Life of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual Disability.
KidsLife-ASD is a quick, eight-domain parent scale that reliably measures quality of life in autistic clients who also have ID.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Granieri et al. (2020) tested a new scale called KidsLife-ASD. The scale asks parents eight questions about their autistic child who also has intellectual disability.
The team wanted to know if the tool gives steady answers and truly measures quality of life.
What they found
The KidsLife-ASD Scale passed the tests. It showed good reliability and validity across all eight domains.
That means you can trust the scores when you track a child's progress.
How this fits with other research
This paper builds on Libero et al. (2016). That study created the original KidsLife scale for kids with intellectual disability only. The new paper keeps the same eight domains but adds autism into the mix.
Scahill et al. (2024) also made an autism-only tool, yet theirs tracks insomnia, not quality of life. Both papers show the field is moving toward short, condition-specific rating scales.
Unwin et al. (2014) looks different at first glance—it covers adults and asks about caregiver burden. Still, it proves the same point: brief parent-report scales can reliably capture quality-of-life changes in clients with ID.
Why it matters
You now have a free, eight-question tool that speaks directly to autistic kids with ID. Use it at intake and every six months to show parents concrete numbers on happiness, friendships, and daily comfort. The scale takes five minutes and gives you treatment targets you might miss with skill sheets alone.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Print the KidsLife-ASD form, give it to one parent before session, and pick one low-scoring domain to add a happiness goal to the behavior plan.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Despite the advances on the assessment of quality of life, this concept is barely studied and is riddled with important limitations for those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This article is aimed at validating a questionnaire to assess quality of life of children with ASD and intellectual disability (ID). Based on the KidsLife Scale, geared toward people with ID, the most reliable items for those with ASD were selected. Study participants were 420 persons, from 4 to 21 years old. Results indicated that the KidsLife-ASD Scale measured eight intercorrelated domains, had good reliability, and exhibited adequate evidences of validity. KidsLife-ASD emerges as a helpful tool to guide person-centered planning addressed at improving quality of life.
Intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2020 · doi:10.1352/1934-9556-58.5.393