Brief report: The use of self-report measures in young people with autism spectrum disorder to access symptoms of anxiety, depression and negative thoughts.

Ozsivadjian et al. (2014) asked verbally-able kids with autism to fill out short forms about anxiety, depression and negative thoughts.

Parents filled out the same forms. The team then checked how closely the two sets of answers matched.

The children’s ratings lined up well with parent ratings. The kids also gave clear examples of negative thoughts, showing they could read the items and answer honestly.

In short, the questionnaires worked—self-report gave usable data.

Earlier work saw the same pattern: Hurtig et al. (2009) and Heald et al. (2020) also found that autistic teens report more internal distress than parents notice, so collecting both views catches more cases.

Yet Noordenbos et al. (2012) saw teens under-report their anxiety in a treatment clinic. That looks like a clash, but the kids in W’s clinic sought help, so they may have down-played symptoms. Ann’s community sample had no such pressure, so agreement was higher.

Seers et al. (2021) pushed the age limit lower, showing even 5- to 8-year-olds can self-report with a picture-based computer interview. Together the studies draw a timeline: self-report tools work from kindergarten through high school as long as language skills match the format.

You no longer have to rely only on parent forms. Give your verbally-able clients the same anxiety or depression screener you would give a typical peer, then compare the two scores. If the child’s number is higher, dig deeper—parents sometimes miss internal distress. If it is lower, watch for denial or literal reading. Either way, you just gained a second, low-cost data source.