Does parent report of behavior differ across ADOS-G classifications: analysis of scores from the CBCL and GARS.

The team compared two parent checklists. One was the CBCL. The other was the GARS. They asked: which one better spots autism?

They looked at the kids. All had an ADOS. Some had autism. Some did not. Parents filled out both checklists.

CBCL won. Its Withdrawn and PDD subscales caught more kids with autism. They also made fewer false alarms.

GARS missed many kids who truly had autism. CBCL was safer to trust.

De Kegel et al. (2016) later said CBCL is too noisy. They saw lots of false positives. The clash comes from different cutoffs. M et al. used fixed scores. Alexandra tried adjusted ones. Both can be right: CBCL works if you pick the right threshold.

So et al. (2013) trimmed the CBCL to just 10 items. That short form still ruled out autism 95 % of the time. It builds on M et al. by giving you a faster screen.

Eggleston et al. (2018) added teachers to the mix. They found parent or teacher forms alone still miss many kids. M et al. looked at parents only. The new lesson: use CBCL as a first step, but keep the ADOS for the final word.

You need a quick screen that parents can finish in the waiting room. Pick the CBCL Withdrawn or PDD subscale. It beats GARS at catching autism and avoids extra false positives. Still, always follow with direct observation. No checklist is perfect alone.