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Differences Between the Childhood Autism Rating Scale and the Social Responsiveness Scale in Assessing Symptoms of Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

This study aimed to compare symptoms of autism spectrum disorder using the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS™-2) and to investigate their influencing factors. The diagnostic agreement was 92.7%, but with a fair Kappa value (0.247). Children’s verbal comprehension was related to the CARS scores, and no variables were related to the SRS™-2 scores. Generally, significant small correlations were found between the two measures in children with normal or borderline to below average verbal comprehension (rs = 0.32 ~ 0.49, p < .005), but not in those with impaired verbal comprehension. The CARS and the SRS™-2 may contain different explicit behaviors and collect different perspectives (i.e., those of caregivers and professionals). Therefore, they appear to complement each other.

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Acknowledgments

We especially thank the children and caregivers who participated in our study, and the occupational therapists of Country Hospital, Chi Mei Medical Center, De Shang Clinic, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Xing Cheng Rehabilitation Clinic, and Yong Cheng Rehabilitation Clinic for their assistance with recruiting participants. This study was supported by grants awarded to the first author by the Ministry of Science and Technology, R.O.C (MOST 103-2410-H-006-060, MOST 104-2410-H-006-065, and MOST 105-2410-H-006-047-MY2).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1, University Rd., Tainan City, 701, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Kuan-Lin Chen

  2. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1, University Rd., Tainan City, 701, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Kuan-Lin Chen

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Chi Mei Medical Center, No. 901, Zhonghua Rd., Yong Kang Dist., Tainan City, 710, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Chien-Ho Lin

  4. School of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, I-Shou University, No. 8, Yida Rd., Kaohsiung City, 82445, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Tzu-Ying Yu & Chien-Yu Huang

  5. Department of Rehabilitation, Country Hospital, 7F., No. 61, Sec. 4, Ren-ai Rd., Da-an Dist., Taipei City, 106, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Ying-Dar Chen

Authors
  1. Kuan-Lin Chen
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  2. Chien-Ho Lin
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  3. Tzu-Ying Yu
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  4. Chien-Yu Huang
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  5. Ying-Dar Chen
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Contributions

KLC conceived and planned the experiments. KLC, CHL, TYY, CYH, and YDC contributed to the interpretation of the results. KLC and CYH took the lead in writing the manuscript. All authors provided critical feedback and helped shape the research, analysis and manuscript.

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Correspondence to Chien-Yu Huang.

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The manuscript has been read and approved by all authors, and participant consent forms have been collected. No party having a direct interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit on us or on any organization with which we are associated.

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Chen, KL., Lin, CH., Yu, TY. et al. Differences Between the Childhood Autism Rating Scale and the Social Responsiveness Scale in Assessing Symptoms of Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 48, 3191–3198 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3585-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3585-y

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