Psychometric Properties of the Adapted Skillstreaming Checklist for High-functioning Children with ASD.
The Adapted Skillstreaming Checklist is a reliable parent tool for tracking social skills in verbal 6- to 12-year-olds with autism.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked parents to fill out the Adapted Skillstreaming Checklist. They wanted to know if the scores stayed the same when parents took it twice.
Kids were 6-12 years old with autism and strong verbal skills. No one was left out for having a low IQ.
What they found
Parents’ answers were steady. The checklist showed strong internal consistency and good test-retest reliability.
It also lined up with other social-skills measures the way experts expected.
How this fits with other research
Lopata et al. (2020) later ran a factor analysis on the same form. They found three clear skill groups: social entry, conflict fix, and self-control.
Palka Bayard de Volo et al. (2021) built a different parent tool, the CCC-R, for pragmatic language. Both studies show parent checklists can give reliable data on communication issues.
Sterling et al. (2015) tested the RCADS for anxiety in high-functioning youth. Their validity was weaker, hinting that social-skills checklists may be easier for parents to rate than internal feelings.
Why it matters
You now have a free, quick parent form that holds up in high-functioning autistic clients. Use it to spot social-skill gaps before writing treatment goals. Repeat it every three months to show parents clear progress.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study examined the reliability and criterion-related validity of parent ratings on the Adapted Skillstreaming Checklist (ASC) for a sample of 275 high-functioning children, ages 6-12 years, with ASD. Internal consistency for the total sample was 0.92. For two subsamples, test-retest reliability was very good at the 6-week and good at the 9-month intervals. Child age, IQ, and language abilities were unrelated to the ASC score. The ASC total score was inversely and strongly related to parent ratings of ASD symptom severity. Significant positive correlations (moderate-to-high) were found between the ASC and prosocial skills scales and significant negative correlations (low-to-moderate) with problem behavior scales on a broad measure of child functioning. Implications and suggestions for future study are discussed.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2017 · doi:10.1007/s10803-017-3189-y