The Relationship Between the Childhood Autism Rating Scale: Second Edition and Clinical Diagnosis Utilizing the DSM-IV-TR and the DSM-5.

Dawkins et al. (2016) checked if the Childhood Autism Rating Scale-Second Edition still works. They compared CARS2 scores to DSM-IV-TR and DSM-5 autism rules.

The team ran the test in a regular clinic. They wanted to know if the tool gives the same yes-or-no answer as both DSM versions.

CARS2 agreed with both DSM-IV-TR and DSM-5 most of the time. High match means the scale keeps its power even after the rules changed.

In short, the old favorite scale still flags autism under the newer, tighter DSM-5 criteria.

Older papers already liked the first CARS. Haring et al. (1988) showed it cleanly split autistic teens from non-autistic ones. Matson et al. (1994) found one factor—Social Impairment—does most of the heavy lifting.

Sung et al. (2018) seems to disagree. They saw DSM-5 miss more kids than DSM-IV-TR. Tamara’s team shows CARS2 keeps up with both sets, so the scale, not the criteria, may be the steady part.

Wilson et al. (2013) warned DSM-5 can drop bright adults. Tamara’s work says CARS2 still catches cases in everyday clinics, closing part of that gap.

You can keep using CARS2 without red tape. If a child hits the cutoff, the DSM-5 diagnosis is very likely to follow, saving you a long second battery. When a kid just misses DSM-5 but clearly needs help, trust your CARS2 data and document educational impact—insurers still respect the numbers.