Child Adjustment and Parent Efficacy Scale-Developmental Disability (CAPES-DD): First psychometric evaluation of a new child and parenting assessment tool for children with a developmental disability.

The team built a short parent form for kids with developmental delays. They called it CAPES-DD.

Parents answered 21 items about child behavior problems and their own sense of control.

Two large groups of moms and dads filled it out so the researchers could check if the scores were reliable and meaningful.

The 21-item CAPES-DD held together in two clean parts: child adjustment and parent efficacy.

Numbers showed good reliability and validity. The tool is free and takes about five minutes.

Hedley et al. (2023) did the same kind of first-check study with the SIDAS-M for suicidal thoughts in autistic adults. Both papers follow the same recipe: write items, give them to a sample, run factor analysis, report fit.

Lecavalier et al. (2004) factor-tested the older NCBRF in kids with ASD. CAPES-DD now gives a quicker, DD-focused option that also adds the parent-efficacy piece the NCBRF never had.

Eliasziw et al. (2025) aim for an ultra-brief autism screen. CAPES-DD is longer but wider; it covers both behavior and caregiver confidence, so you pick brevity or breadth depending on your question.

You now have a no-cost, psychometrically sound way to track two things at once: how the child is doing and how capable the parent feels. Use it at intake, before parent training, or at six-month reviews. A quick score jump on the efficacy side can guide you to reinforce what the parent is doing right, not just focus on child targets.