Development of a school-age extension of the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers through expert consensus and stakeholder input.
A new 15-item parent/teacher screener (M-CHAT-S) now exists for autism in 4- to 8-year-olds—watch for validation data before adopting.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Wieckowski et al. (2024) built a 15-item screener for autism in 4- to 8-year-olds.
They asked experts, parents, and teachers what signs matter most at school age.
The result is the M-CHAT-S, a quick checklist for home or classroom use.
What they found
The team agreed on 15 questions that flag social, play, and language red flags.
The tool is ready for testing; real-world accuracy data are still coming.
How this fits with other research
Burrows et al. (2018) warn that parent mood and child language delays can skew toddler screens. The new M-CHAT-S will need to show it is not fooled by the same issues in older kids.
Constable et al. (2024) also built a short parent form, the ViBe, for visual quirks in ASD. Both papers show parent reports can catch signs clinicians miss, but each tool targets a narrow slice—visual vs. general autism traits.
Arnold et al. (2026) found current camouflaging tools like the CAT-Q are muddied by social anxiety. If M-CHAT-S items overlap with social-behavior questions, future studies should check that scores reflect autism, not shyness.
Why it matters
You now have a 15-item form to flag possible autism in early elementary kids. Until validation numbers arrive, use it only as a first pass, not a final say. Pair scores with direct observation and keep an eye on language level and caregiver stress—lessons straight from Burrows et al. (2018).
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Print the M-CHAT-S and try it as a quick first screen, but confirm any red flags with direct assessment.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends universal screening to identify children at higher likelihood for autism at 18- and 24-month well-child visits. There are many children, however, that are missed during this toddler age who do not get diagnosed until much later in development, delaying access to autism-specific interventions. Currently, brief measures for universal autism screening for school-age children, however, are lacking. In this project, we adapted a commonly used autism screener for toddlers, the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers, Revised, with Follow-Up (M-CHAT-R/F), to be used for school-age children. This measure, called the M-CHAT-School (M-CHAT-S), is a parent- and teacher-report questionnaire to be used to screen for autism in school-age children aged 4 to 8 years of age. M-CHAT-S was developed through feedback from autism experts, as well as interviews with parents and teachers to provide input on the items. Two versions of M-CHAT-S were developed, one for verbally fluent and one for minimally verbal school-age children. M-CHAT-S is a brief measure, with updated items to reflect changes in the way experts think and talk about autism, making it a useful measure to use for autism screening in elementary aged children. The next steps include further testing to ensure that M-CHAT-S performs well in identifying children with increased likelihood of autism, after which it will be made available to parents, educators, and other professionals.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2024 · doi:10.1177/13623613241252312