Psychometric properties of the screening tool of feeding problems (STEP) in Turkish children with ASD.
The Turkish STEP reliably flags feeding problems in children with autism, giving BCBAs a fast, no-cost screening option.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Meral et al. (2014) translated the STEP into Turkish. They then checked if the new form still flagged feeding problems in children with autism.
The team asked parents to complete the five-minute checklist. They ran the usual psychometric tests to see if scores stayed consistent and matched clinical signs.
What they found
The Turkish STEP passed the key tests. It gave stable scores and picked out feeding issues in kids with autism.
In short, the tool kept its promise after the language and culture shift.
How this fits with other research
Gabriels et al. (2001) built the original English STEP for children with intellectual disability. Meral et al. (2014) later showed the same questions work for Turkish children with autism, extending the tool into a new language and diagnosis.
Fombonne et al. (2012) validated the Spanish SRS for Mexican schools. Both papers follow the same recipe: take a parent screener, translate it, then prove it still sorts kids accurately.
Roman-Urrestarazu et al. (2021) shortened the Q-CHAT for busy Chilean clinics. Their move toward brief, low-resource screeners matches the five-minute STEP format, giving BCBAs two quick options for different domains.
Why it matters
If you serve Turkish-speaking families, you now have a free, five-minute screener that spots feeding problems before they turn into crisis meals. Use the STEP to decide who needs a full feeding assessment, then track progress in the same metric. No extra training, no cost, just a quick parent form that already holds up in research.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Hand the Turkish STEP to parents while they wait; score it during the session to see if a feeding referral is needed.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
The purpose of this study is to determine the psychometric properties of the screening tool of feeding problems (STEP) in Turkish children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). After providing linguistic equivalence of the scale, STEP was applied to 360 mothers on behalf of their children with ASD in order to determine the associated feeding problems. The scale which has 5 sub-domains and 3 Likert-type questions originally consisted of 23 items. Item-total correlations of the scale were acceptable, with the exception of item 8 and the differences between the item averages of the upper 27% and the lower 27% groups were significant (p<0.001). The internal consistency coefficient (α=0.81) and the split-half reliability (Spearman's rho=0.69**) were high. The STEP achieved criterion-related validity. The results of Confirmatory Factor Analysis (χ(2)/df=3.2, RMSEA=0.08, SRMR=0.08, GFI=0.85, AGFI=0.81, CFI=0.86) showed that the scale has an acceptable goodness of fit. This study suggests that the Turkish version of the STEP could be a useful assessment tool when it comes to measuring feeding problems in children with ASD.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2014 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2014.01.008