Development of the anxiety scale for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASC-ASD).

Rodgers et al. (2016) built a brand-new anxiety scale just for kids with autism. They wrote 24 parent questions that capture worries typical in ASD, like fear of change or sensory overload.

The team checked that the questions hung together, matched clinical ratings, and stayed stable over a month. The sample was children with ASD; exact size was not reported.

The 24-item ASC-ASD scale showed good internal consistency and validity. It also stayed steady when parents filled it out again one month later.

Four sub-scales emerged: performance anxiety, uncertainty, sensory, and anxious arousal. These line up with real-life triggers you see in session.

Sterling et al. (2015) tested the generic RCADS in high-functioning autistic youth and found only modest validity. Jacqui’s team built autism-specific items to fix that gap, so the ASC-ASD now supersedes the shaky RCADS results.

Bellalou et al. (2021) copied the same build-and-validate recipe to make a depression scale for autistic kids. Both papers show the field is moving from generic checklists to condition-specific tools.

Older reviews like Parks (1983) and Roll (2005) warned that most autism rating scales had weak content validity. The ASC-ASD answers that call by baking autism-specific worries into every item.

You now have a free, 24-question tool that speaks autism. Use it during intake or when a client’s behavior spikes. The sensory and uncertainty sub-scales can guide you to antecedents you might otherwise miss.