Broadband behavior rating scales as screeners for autism?

In order to start providing important early intervention services to preschoolers and toddlers with autism, those children first need to be identified. Despite the availability of specialized autism assessment instruments, there is a need for effective screeners at the early childhood level. Three broadband behavior rating scales were evaluated in this study to determine if any of the scales on the instruments could adequately distinguish between children with autism from other clinically referred children. There were four scales from two instruments that resulted in mean scores outside the average range and had statistically significant differences. However, the small mean score differences and analyses of sensitivity and specificity suggest those scales have limited practical usefulness when used by clinicians.