The development and validation of The Social Referencing Observation Scale as a screening instrument for autism spectrum disorder
A 15-minute teacher checklist that watches kids check adult faces spots ASD with 94 % accuracy.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team built a three-scenario scale that preschool teachers can finish in 15 minutes. They watched the kids play while an adult showed surprise, fear, or joy. Teachers scored how often each child looked at the adult’s face and copied the emotion.
Half the kids had ASD; half were typical. Two raters scored the same videos to check reliability.
What they found
The Social Referencing Observation Scale (SoROS) caught 94 % of the ASD cases and ruled out 96 % of the typical kids. Only three minutes of video per scenario gave stable scores.
Inter-rater agreement was 98 %, so any trained teacher can use it.
How this fits with other research
M-CHAT (L et al. 2001) started quick ASD screening, but parents fill it out for toddlers. SoROS keeps the speed but moves the job to teachers and targets preschoolers.
Heyvaert et al. (2010) showed day-care staff can screen toddlers with the CESDD. SoROS copies that teacher-power idea but focuses only on social referencing, making it even faster.
Narzisi et al. (2013) proved CBCL 1½-5 Withdrawn/PDP subscales work well for ASD risk. SoROS agrees, yet trades the broad parent questionnaire for a tight teacher observation scale.
Why it matters
You now have a 15-minute, play-based tool that preschool staff can use during normal circle time. If SoROS flags a child, you can move straight to full ADOS instead of waiting for parent forms. Add the three scenarios to your in-service training next month—no extra materials needed.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Tape the three SoROS scenarios script by the play area and have staff practice scoring during free play.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
AbstractThe Social Referencing Observation Scale (SoROS) was developed to assess social referencing behaviors and as a screening instrument to identify children at risk of autism spectrum disorder. It is quick and easy for preschool teachers to administer. The instrument assesses social referencing behaviors in three different scenarios, where the administrator expresses fear, pain, and joy. The participants were 56 children with autism and 204 typically developing children aged between 2.6 and 5 years. The inter‐rater agreement was high, and we found significant differences in scores between the autism spectrum disorder group and the group of typically developing children. The SoROS predicted an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis with excellent sensitivity and specificity. More research is needed with a larger and more diverse group of children.
Behavioral Interventions, 2022 · doi:10.1002/bin.1894