Questionnaire screening for comorbid pervasive developmental disorders in congenitally blind children: a pilot study.

Teachers and parents completed the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC) on a clinical sample of 17 congenitally blind children. Of the 17 children, 4 had a definite or likely pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) as judged by independent case note review. The ABC was administered both in its original format and in a slightly modified format. Only teacher-completed ABCs detected group differences and had satisfactory test-retest reliability. The modified-format ABC completed by teachers detected 3 of the 4 children with PDDs without any false positives. Screening questionnaires may have a limited but useful role in locating subjects with blindness plus putative PDDs for further study.