The "autism spectrum disorder observation for children" ("ASD-OC") is a newly created 54-item observation measure for autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Due to the fact that many of the ASD observation measures currently available do not have established psychometric properties and require extensive time and training to administer, the "ASD-OC"…

Identifying the function of behavior is crucial in formulating functionally-based treatment programs for people with challenging behaviors. The Questions About Behavior Function (QABF) is a well-established instrument with sound psychometric properties. The present study describes the development process for a Korean version of the QABF. The…

The purpose of this paper was to update the psychometrics of the "Matson Evaluation of Social Skills for Youngsters" ("MESSY") with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), specifically with respect to internal consistency, split-half reliability, and inter-rater reliability. In Study 1, 114 children with ASD (Autistic Disorder, Asperger's…

The Matson Evaluation of Drug Side Effects (MEDS) is currently the best established and most researched measure of drug side effects in the intellectual disability (ID) literature. Initial research was conducted on its psychometric properties such as reliability and validity. More recent research studies have used the measure to determine the…

Previous studies analyzed the reliability as well as sensitivity and specificity of the Autism Spectrum Disorder-Diagnostic for Children (ASD-DC). This study further examines the psychometric properties of the ASD-DC by assessing whether the ASD-DC has convergent validity against a psychometrically sound observational instrument for Autistic…

Background: This study assessed the psychometrics of two measures--the "Matson Evaluation of Drug Side-effects" (MEDS) and the "Akathisia Ratings of Movement Scale" (ARMS)--and examined the symptom profile of akathisia in a sample of people with intellectual disability (ID). Method: Sixty-six participants formed three groups of…

The reliability of a new scale to assess Autistic Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), and Asperger's Disorder in children was examined. Parents or other caregivers rated symptoms of 207 children between 2 and 16 years of age. The scale, which had 40 items in the final version, correlated highly with…

Social skills are defining aspects of intellectual disability (ID). Additionally, their presence or absence can be a major impediment to independent living, and they correlate with other problems in the ID population, such as comorbid psychopathology. To date, little has been done to develop scales to measure these problems, particularly for…

The success of early intervention programs has in large part spurred increasing emphasis on identifying children with autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) at the earliest possible ages. National and international professional groups have called for early screening and diagnosis, yet the technology to…

Asperger's syndrome (AS), first diagnosed in 1944, and has only recently begun to receive a great deal of research attention. An emerging controversy has been whether AS is a distinct condition from high functioning autism (HFA), and if so, can it be reliably and validly diagnosed. While measures designed specifically to aid in the screening and…

A considerable amount of attention has occurred with respect to the diagnosis and treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) of children and youth. Furthermore, the rationale for using the most restrictive of the applied behavior analysis methods and medication has been largely based on the presence of severe challenging behaviors such as…

The use of anti-epileptic medications (AEDs) is much higher in individuals with intellectual disabilities than in the general population. As many of these individuals rely on such medications, clinicians should consider psychometrically sound instruments for assessing adverse side effects of these medications as one aspect of routine clinical…

This study was designed to establish the initial psychometric properties of the first scale specifically developed for behavior problems of adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID). The Autism Spectrum Disorders-Behavior Problems for Adults (ASD-BPA) consists of 20 items in which raters indicate if each item is…

The Psychopathology Instrument for Mentally Retarded Adults--Sexuality Scale was developed and used to study 86 adults with mild/moderate mental retardation. Psychometric characteristics were favorable. Differences in the rate of sexually aberrant behavior are addressed as a function of living and work placement, positive history of sexual abuse,…

The "Behavior Problems Inventory" (BPI) is a behavior rating instrument for self-injurious, stereotypic, and aggressive/destructive behavior in mental retardation and other developmental disabilities. Evaluation with 432 residents in a developmental center found the BPI to be a reliable (retest reliability, internal consistency, and…