Screeners and Standardized Assessments
Given the prevalence of challenging behavior in the ASD population, and the potential negative health outcomes associated with its occurrence (e.g., persistent stress, lower quality of life; Fitzpatrick et al., 2016), early identification and targeted assessment is needed. Screeners and informant-based measures of challenging behavior can be helpful for identifying problems, determining the degree of impairment, and in some cases (when shown to be reliable and sensitive to change), monitoring progress. In the following sections we detail screening and standardized assessment procedures used to assess challenging behavior in the ASD population. We highlight common informant-based and direct screeners, standardized questionnaires that focus on challenging behaviors, and psychiatric assessments. This is not a systematic review of available questionnaires and their psychometrics; rather it provides an overview of commonly used measures and highlights their strengths and weaknesses.
Informant-based Screeners
One class of standardized questionnaires includes broad-based screeners that tap various forms of emotional and behavioral difficulties. Benefits of these measures include that they assess a wide range of problems, provide standardized norms for comparison, and have versions that cover the full lifespan. A drawback is that they are generally all copyrighted; thus, both administration and scoring forms (or online uses) must be purchased. While their comprehensiveness is a strength, this also means that they are often lengthy to complete. Broad screeners are widely used at initial mental-health evaluation appointments or within school system evaluations. Since scoring is often based on normative data from large samples, cutoffs are usually available to aid interpretation of scores. These screeners can be helpful to identify areas requiring more in-depth assessment and to quantify the magnitude of difficulty across different areas of functioning.
Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA)
One of the most common measures in this category is the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) System (Achenbach, 2009), which includes caregiver report forms (e.g., CBCL for ages 1.5-5 or 6-18 and the Adult Behavior Checklist [ABCL]), self-report forms (Youth Self-Report [YSR] for ages 11-17 and Adult Self-Report Form [ASR]), and a Teacher Report Form (TSR). The ASEBA system generates scores that map onto Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) criteria (DSM-oriented scales) as well as syndrome scale scores, which tap various problem behaviors, including an Aggression Scale. Although developed for the general population, the ASEBA system is widely used with individuals with ASD.
Behavioral Assessment System for Children – 3 (BASC-3)
A measure like the ASEBA scales that has been utilized somewhat less in autism, but has some unique strengths, is the Behavioral Assessment System for Children – 3 (BASC-3; Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2015). One disadvantage of the BASC-3 compared to the ASEBA scales is the lack of an adult version. However, advantages include its assessment of adaptive behaviors, executive functioning, and strengths in addition to coverage of the topics assessed by ASEBA. It also includes a validity index. The BASC-3 has an accompanying Behavioral and Emotional Screening System that is meant to be completed in five minutes to identify behavioral and emotional strengths and weaknesses.
