The Social Communication Assessment for Toddlers with Autism (SCATA): an instrument to measure the frequency, form and function of communication in toddlers with autism spectrum disorder.

The team built a new tool called SCATA. It counts how often toddlers with autism use gestures, eye contact, or sounds. It also notes why the child acts: to ask, to share, or to chat.

They watched a small group of toddlers play and eat with parents. Sessions were taped and coded later. The same kids were filmed again months later to see change.

SCATA picked up real growth. Kids showed more social acts and comments over time. Simple requests grew too, but they did not predict later language.

The big surprise: early social bids and shared-interest comments forecasted future talking better than asking for toys or food.

Barbaro et al. (2013) tracked babies from 12 to 24 months. They saw that missing eye contact and pointing at this age flags autism early. SCATA lines up perfectly; it gives you a ready-made way to score those same markers once kids are two to four.

Anbar et al. (2024) followed toddlers with family risk until school age. They found that joint attention and first words at 14-24 months predict later pragmatic skills. SCATA’s finding that social initiations matter most echoes their long-term data.

Davidovitch et al. (2018) used eye-tracking during a two-minute video. Gaze toward social bids matched caregiver scale scores. Their quick tech measure and SCATA’s live coding both spotlight the power of social attention; eye-tracking just does it faster.

Brignell et al. (2017) looked at parent reports of skill loss. Many typical toddlers also lost words, so loss alone is not autism-specific. SCATA adds value here by showing what gains matter—more sharing and commenting, not fewer requests.

You now have a toddler checklist that tracks the right moves: shared looks, showing, comments. Score these during play or snack. Watch the totals rise; if social acts climb, later language likely will too. Swap time spent drilling requests for games that tempt kids to share joy with you.