The Utility of the Screening Tool for Autism in 2-Year-Olds in Detecting Autism in Taiwanese Toddlers Who are Less than 24 Months of Age: A Longitudinal Study.

The team followed Taiwanese toddlers under 24 months for two years. They gave each child the play-based STAT screener and watched who later got an ASD diagnosis.

They set the red-flag cutoff at 2.5 and checked how well that score predicted later ASD.

A STAT score of 2.5 or higher correctly flagged most toddlers who were later diagnosed with ASD. The tool worked even for babies younger than 14 months.

Wu et al. (2021) ran the same tool on the same age group and got the same result — a clean replication.

Matson et al. (2008) first showed STAT works under 24 months but warned it can over-flag 12-13-month-olds. The new study shrinks that worry; it finds the 2.5 cutoff still fits the youngest toddlers.

Grigore et al. (2024) says across many tools we still lack proof that early screening leads to better intervention gains. The current paper does not tackle that gap; it only shows the STAT score itself is solid.

If you screen in Taiwan, you can trust a STAT ≥2.5 even for babies just past their first birthday. Add the five-minute play screener at 18-month check-ups and refer scores at or above 2.5 for full evaluation.