Evaluating the Use of Self-reported Measures in Autistic Individuals in the Context of Psychiatric Assessment: A Systematic Review.

Youn and the team read every paper they could find on self-report mental-health questionnaires used with autistic people.

They pulled 36 studies that checked if the forms really measure what they claim in this group.

Most work looked at youth who speak and read well; few touched adults or people with low IQ.

Almost every validated tool focuses on anxiety in bright, verbal teens.

Hardly any studies test the same forms for depression, mood, or suicidal thoughts.

We simply don’t know if the surveys work for minimally verbal clients or grown-ups.

Ozsivadjian et al. (2014) and Noordenbos et al. (2012) show teens can fill anxiety forms fairly well, yet they still under-score their worry compared with parents.

That seems like a clash, but it isn’t: the teens could complete the forms, they just rated themselves lower — a nuance Youn flags as a gap.

Lecavalier et al. (2014) already warned that only four anxiety measures are trial-ready; Youn widens the lens and finds the same thin cupboard for every other psychiatric domain.

Kalinyak et al. (2025) add live conversation coding and see survey scores miss real-time social fear, backing Youn’s call for multi-method checks.

Before you pick a questionnaire, scan the manual for IQ and language requirements. If your client is non-speaking or an adult, don’t trust the tool until new data say you can. Pair parent or staff ratings with any self-form, and watch for under-reported anxiety. Push publishers to widen their samples so we can all measure progress safely.