Description

The Q-CHAT includes a set of questions that assess children’s behavioral characteristics and their interactions across various social and communication domains. This tool was specifically developed to detect early signs of the autism spectrum in children aged 18 to 24 months.

Objective

The main objective of the Q-CHAT is to evaluate the potential presence of autistic traits in toddlers at an early stage of their life. This tool is mainly used by health professionals and researchers for the detection and assessment of developmental disorders.

Analysis

The analysis of the Q-CHAT involves the evaluation of responses to each question and the production of total scores for each child. The scores can then be interpreted to determine the likelihood of the presence of autistic traits.

Calibration

The calibration of the Q-CHAT is based on studies that have been conducted to establish threshold scores for the detection of possible autistic traits.

References

Allison, C., Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Charman, T., Richler, J., Pasco, G., … & Brayne, C. (2008). The Q-CHAT (Quantitative Checklist for Autism in Toddlers): A normally distributed quantitative measure of autistic traits at 18–24 months of age: Preliminary report. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38(8), 1414–1425.
Allison, C., Auyeung, B., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2012). Toward brief “red flags” for autism screening: The Short Autism Spectrum Quotient and the Short Quantitative Checklist for Autism in toddlers in 1,000 cases and 3,000 controls. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 51(2), 202–212.