Is the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist a useful tool for monitoring progress in children with autism spectrum disorders?
The free ATEC parent checklist tracks long-term progress almost as well as full test batteries, so you can monitor change without extra clinic hours.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked if the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) really tracks progress in kids with autism. Parents filled out the 77-item form twice, several months apart. Researchers then compared the scores to full IQ, language, and autism-severity tests.
What they found
The ATEC stayed stable when kids stayed the same and moved when kids improved. Its total score lined up well with longer, expensive tests. Internal consistency was high, so all four sub-scales hang together.
How this fits with other research
Charman et al. (2004) looked at the same checklist seven years earlier and saw only mixed utility. The new study used a larger sample and tighter stats, so the positive result likely updates the older, weaker one.
Bolte et al. (2013) counted 289 different tools used across autism trials. Their review lists the ATEC, showing it is one of the few parent forms that keeps popping up. Using it makes your data match more studies.
De Kegel et al. (2016) found the CBCL parent form was poor at spotting autism. That sounds opposite, but they screened for new cases; I et al. monitored change over time. Different job, different tool needed.
Why it matters
You can hand the ATEC to parents in the waiting room, score it free, and get a quick read on whether your client is moving. No extra clinic time, no cost. Pair it with direct tests each six months to keep insurance happy while you watch daily trends.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Give the ATEC to every autism parent at intake and re-check every three months.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: There are few well validated brief measures that can be used to assess the general progress of young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) over time. In the present study, the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) was used as part of a comprehensive assessment battery to monitor the progress of 22 school-aged children with ASD who had previously taken part in intensive home- or school-based intervention programmes in their pre-school years. METHODS: Parents completed the ATEC when the children were on average 5.5 years and then again 5-6 years later (mean age 10.4 years). Standardised measures were also used to assess cognitive, language and adaptive behaviour skills and severity of autism symptoms over the same period. RESULTS: The ATEC had high internal consistency at both time points. ATEC total and sub-scale scores remained relatively stable over time and were highly and significantly correlated with cognitive, language and adaptive behaviour skills and severity of autism symptoms at both assessment points. Initial ATEC total scores predicted 64% of the variance in scores at the subsequent follow-up. However, there was also considerable variation in the patterns of scores shown by individual children over time. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides some preliminary evidence of the ATEC's potential value for monitoring progress of children with ASD over time. Its advantages and limitations are discussed in the context of the need systematically to monitor the progress of children with ASD over time or in response to intervention.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2011 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2010.01359.x