The validity of the autism spectrum disorders-diagnosis for intellectually disabled adults (ASD-DA).
The ASD-DA is a solid, ready-to-use checklist for spotting autism in adults who have intellectual disability.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Matson et al. (2008) tested a new checklist called the ASD-DA.
The tool helps clinicians decide if an adult with intellectual disability also has autism.
Teams compared ASD-DA scores to DSM-IV-TR rules, to ratings of daily living skills, and to general mental-health symptoms.
What they found
The checklist lined up well with official autism criteria.
It also moved in step with how well clients dressed, spoke, and handled money.
It stayed quiet on unrelated problems like anxiety or mood swings, showing clean separation.
How this fits with other research
McLennan et al. (2008) and Madden et al. (2003) did the same kind of math for mood tools in ID.
They prove the method works for other diagnoses, so the ASD-DA approach is not a one-off.
Hove et al. (2008) found their P-AID screener also keeps psychiatric noise out, backing the idea that good ID tools must separate conditions.
Putnam et al. (2003) is the warning tale: two older scales overlapped poorly, reminding us to pick proven checklists like ASD-DA instead of grabbing any form off the shelf.
Why it matters
If you assess adults with ID, you can now add ASD-DA to your kit with confidence.
It gives a quick, valid snapshot that agrees with DSM rules and will not flag everyday ID behaviors as autism.
Use it to shorten evaluation time, justify diagnosis to payors, and start the right ABA plan sooner.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Psychologists interviewed direct-care staff using a battery of assessment measures including the autism spectrum disorders-diagnosis for intellectually disabled adults (ASD-DA), the Diagnostic Assessment for the Severely Handicapped-II (DASH-II), the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills for Individuals with Severe Retardation (MESSIER), the Socialization domain of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS), and a checklist containing criteria for autism and PDD-NOS from the DSM-IV-TR and ICD-10. Three hundred and seven intellectually disabled (ID) adolescents and adults ranging in age from 16 to 88 were assessed. Participants were diagnosed with either ID and ASD (autism or PDD-NOS; n=156) or ID and no Axis I diagnosis (n=151). A modification of the multitrait-multimethod approach was used to establish the convergent and discriminant validity of the ASD-DA. The scale proved to have robust convergent validity when correlated with the DSM-IV-TR/ICD-10 checklist, MESSIER, and Socialization domain of the VABS. Additionally, discriminant validity was demonstrated by comparing the ASD-DA to items from the DASH-II (measure of general psychopathology). The implications of these data are discussed.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2008 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2007.09.006