Development of T-STAT for early autism screening.
T-STAT reliably spots autism risk in 2- to 3-year-olds with a simple cutoff of 2.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team tested the Taiwanese version of the STAT, called T-STAT, on toddlers. They wanted to see if a quick cutoff score of 2 could flag autism risk.
Kids were already screened in clinics. Researchers compared T-STAT results to the gold-standard ADOS to check agreement.
What they found
T-STAT with a cutoff of 2 matched the ADOS most of the time. Sensitivity and specificity were both high.
In plain words, the tool caught most toddlers who later met ASD criteria and rarely gave false alarms.
How this fits with other research
Wu et al. (2021) pushed the same T-STAT even younger, to 18-24-month-olds, and still got good detection. This extends the 2013 age window downward.
Matson et al. (2008) tried the original STAT under 24 months but needed a higher cutoff of 2.75. The lower T-STAT cutoff of 2 looks easier to use, yet both studies found the tool works before age two.
Grigore et al. (2024) pooled many screening studies and called the overall evidence “inconclusive.” That sounds like a contradiction, but their review mixed many tools and settings. The positive T-STAT data sit inside that wide, mixed bucket.
Why it matters
If you screen toddlers in Taiwan, you can trust T-STAT at the 2 cutoff. One quick play-based session gives a clear red-light score. Use it at 24 months, and newer work says you can even drop to 18 months. Start Monday: keep the cutoff card handy, score on the spot, and fast-track kids who hit 2 or more.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study's purpose was to modify the Screening Tool for Autism in Two-Year-Olds (STAT) into a Taiwanese version called T-STAT. Study 1 included 15 children with Autism and 15 children with Developmental Delay (DD) or language impairment (LI) aged between 24 and 35 months. Study 2 had 77 young children with Autism, PDD-NOS, or DD/LI as a clinical-based validation sample. In Study 1, the signal detection procedure found that a cutoff score of 2 would yield high sensitivity and specificity in T-STAT. In Study 2, using a score of 2 as a cutoff, the agreement between T-STAT risk and ADOS classification was highly acceptable. Results were promising as a Level 2 screening tool for Autism for ages two to three.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2013 · doi:10.1007/s10803-012-1643-4