The validity and reliability of the simplified Chinese version of the Social Communication Questionnaire.
The simplified Chinese SCQ is a solid ASD screener for kids 2–12 when you apply age-specific cut-offs of 11 or 12.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Liu et al. (2022) tested the simplified Chinese Social Communication Questionnaire.
Parents of children aged 2–12 answered the 40 yes-or-no items.
The team checked if scores cleanly split kids with ASD from typically developing kids and from kids with other delays.
What they found
The Chinese SCQ showed good internal consistency and validity.
Two cut-offs work best: 11 for children under 4, and 12 for children 4 and older.
These numbers correctly flagged most children with ASD while limiting false positives.
How this fits with other research
Nwokolo et al. (2024) found a slightly lower cut-off of 10 worked for Nigerian adolescents.
The age gap explains the small difference; both studies confirm the SCQ keeps its accuracy across cultures.
Sappok et al. (2017) pushed the SCQ upward to adults with intellectual disability and settled on 13.
Together the papers draw a simple rule: use lower cut-offs for young children, near 10–12 for teens, and 13 for adults with ID.
Schanding et al. (2012) showed teachers can also use the SCQ if you drop the cut-off a point or two, giving you flexibility when parents are unavailable.
Why it matters
If you screen Mandarin-speaking families, use 11 for under 4 and 12 for 4-plus.
These numbers save you time and reduce false alarms.
Keep the Nigerian 10 and adult 13 in your back pocket when you work with older or IDD populations.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study aims to validate the simplified Chinese version of the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) in children aged 2-12 years from both general and clinical populations. We recruited 819 Chinese children in this study, including 505 typically developing (TD) children, 202 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 112 children with non-ASD neurodevelopmental disorders. All the children's parents completed the simplified Chinese version of the SCQ and all children with ASD were additionally assessed for intelligence and the Childhood Autism Rating Scale to confirm their diagnosis. We have developed a 40-item, 4-factor structure of SCQ with two domains (social communication and social interaction; and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior), which showed adequate goodness of fit (comparative fit index [CFI] = 0.96, Tucker-Lewis index [TLI] = 0.95, standardized root mean squared residual [SRMR] = 0.07, root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = 0.05), with good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.92). We have provided different cut-offs to distinguish ASD cases from TD children (11 for children under 4 years [sensitivity: 0.96, specificity: 0.95], 12 for children 4 years and above [sensitivity: 0.93, specificity: 0.98]) or children with other neurodevelopmental disorders (14 [sensitivity: 0.85, specificity: 0.88]). Through this large sample validation, we confirmed that the simplified Chinese version of the SCQ could be used for children aged 2-12 years with relatively good psychometric properties. LAY SUMMARY: We aimed to develop the simplified Chinese version of the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) for Chinese children aged 2-12 years as a screening tool to identified potential risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We have developed a 40-item, 4-factor structure of SCQ with two domains, which showed adequate goodness of fit and good psychometric properties. We also provided different cut-offs to identify ASD cases in general or clinical populations.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2022 · doi:10.1002/aur.2726