The baby and infant screen for children with autism traits-part 2: The development of age-based cutoffs

Abstract

Objective: To create age-based scoring procedures for the BISCUIT-Part 2, an assessment measure of comorbid psychopathology in infants and toddlers aged 17–37 months.

Method: The standard deviation from the mean method was used to develop separate age-based cutoffs for those with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and those with non-ASD related developmental delays, using a sample of 2867 infants and toddlers and their parents.

Results: As age increased in those with ASD, higher cutoff scores were indicated. Less variation was seen in the cutoff scores established for those with non-ASD related delays.

Conclusion: The findings suggest that as children with ASD grow older, symptoms of comorbidity become more prevalent and easier to detect. The implications of these results, as well as possible areas of future research, are discussed.

• ASD
• autism
• BISCUIT
• comorbidity
• comorbid psychopathology
• psychometrics

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.