Tag Archives: understanding autism

Screening Tests for Autism

There are many assessment tools for detecting autism in children, all of which have their strengths and weaknesses.

One such test is the widely used Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) which was developed in the 1980’s (Schopler et al., 1980). The CARS specifically looks at 15 behavioral based items in which children receive a score ranging from 1 as exhibiting normal behavior to 4 as indicative of autism on assessment of each of these 15 items (Schopler et al., 1980).