Cross-Cultural Validity of the Social Communication Questionnaire for Adults with Intellectual Developmental Disorder.
Use SCQ cut-score 13 for adults with IDD, but lower it for females and those with mild IDD to reduce false positives.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Sappok et al. (2017) tested the Social Communication Questionnaire in adults with intellectual disability across three countries.
They wanted to know if the same cut-off score works for different cultures and genders.
What they found
A score of 13 on the SCQ caught most people with autism.
It also flagged many people who did not have autism, especially women and those with mild disability.
How this fits with other research
Liu et al. (2022) studied Chinese children and set lower cut-offs: 11 for kids under four and 12 for older kids.
Nwokolo et al. (2024) tested Nigerian teens and found a cut-off of 10 worked best.
These lower numbers seem to clash with the adult score of 13, but each study looked at different ages and cultures.
The pattern shows younger groups and non-Western groups need lower scores to avoid false alarms.
Why it matters
When you screen adults with IDD, start with the 13-point cut-off.
Drop it to 11 or 12 for women or clients with mild disability to reduce false positives.
Always pair the SCQ with other tools before making an autism diagnosis.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is important throughout the lifespan. The objective was to investigate the transcultural diagnostic validity of the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) in a clinical sample of 451 adults with Intellectual Developmental Disorder (IDD) with and without ASD in Germany, the U.S.A. and Great Britain. Variables associated with higher SCQ sum-scores were higher levels of IDD, male gender, a diagnosis of ASD and the study site (Germany > U.S.A > G.B.). An ROC analysis revealed a cut-score of 13, which resulted in a sensitivity of 0.87 and a specificity of 0.58. It is recommended to adjust the cut-score according to level of IDD and gender. Further research is needed to align diagnostic assignment of ASD across different sites and countries.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2017 · doi:10.1007/s10803-016-2967-2