Utility of the social communication questionnaire-current and social responsiveness scale as teacher-report screening tools for autism spectrum disorders.

Thomas and team asked teachers to fill out two quick checklists: the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS).

They wanted to see if lower cut-off scores would still catch autism in elementary and middle-school students.

Lower cut-offs worked. Both tools flagged autism with good accuracy, but the SRS edged out the SCQ.

Teachers can now use the trimmed scores without missing kids who need help.

Liu et al. (2022) and Nwokolo et al. (2024) also tweaked SCQ cut-offs, but for parents in China and Nigeria. Their numbers differ because culture, language and age change how people answer items.

Sappok et al. (2017) moved the same idea to adults with intellectual disability. Again, the magic number shifted, showing one size never fits all.

Together the papers say: adjust the cut-off to the group you screen; the tool stays the same.

If you screen in schools, drop the SRS cut-off before you count a child negative. The study gives you the exact number to use. Copy the same step for the SCQ, but expect slightly more false alarms. Check the later papers when you work with non-English families or older kids—they give you ready-made cut-offs for those groups.