Authors: Emily Moulton Kathryn Bradbury Marianne Barton Deborah Fein
Publish Date: 2016/10/14
Volume: , Issue: , Pages: 1-14
Abstract
The Childhood Autism Rating Scale CARS Schopler et al in J Autism Dev Disord 10191–103 1980 is a 15item observationbased rating scale that yields a total score reflective of autism symptom severity This study investigated the factor structure of the CARS in a sample of 2yearold children with DSMIVTR American Psychiatric Association in Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders 4th edn American Psychiatric Publishing Washington 2000 diagnoses of AD or PDDNOS Following a preliminary internal crossvalidation principal axis factor analysis was completed N = 282 The results indicate a threefactor solution Social Communication Stereotyped Behaviors and Sensory Sensitivities and Emotional Reactivity The factors are meaningful with the first two reflective of DSM5 symptom domains This study supports the continued relevance of the CARS in ASD assessment and extends its utility in 2yearold childrenThe authors thank the families who participated in the current study the physicians who assisted by offering the screening study to their patients and the research teams at the University of Connecticut and the University of Washington especially Wendy Stone and Geraldine Dawson Geraldine Dawson is now Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Pediatrics and Psychology and Neuroscience and the Director of the Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development at Duke University North Carolina Wendy Stone is Professor of Psychology at The University of Washington The authors also acknowledge the following funding sources Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant R01HD039961 US Department of Education StudentInitiated Research Grant Maternal and Child Health Bureau Grant R40MC00270 the University of Connecticut’s Research Foundation Faculty Grant the National Alliance of Autism Research and a National Institute of Mental Health Predoctoral Fellowship F31MH12550EM participated in conception of the study design coordination and data collection performed the statistical analyses and drafted sections of the manuscript KB participated in conception of the study design coordination and data collection performed statistical analyses and drafted sections of the manuscript MB participated in conception of the study design data collection interpretation of the data and the revising of the manuscript DF participated in conception of the study design data collection interpretation of the data and the revising of the manuscript All authors read and approved the final manuscriptThis study was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant R01HD039961 US Department of Education StudentInitiated Research Grant Maternal and Child Health Bureau Grant R40MC00270 the University of Connecticut’s Research Foundation Faculty Grant the National Alliance of Autism Research and a National Institute of Mental Health Predoctoral Fellowship F31MH12550Deborah Fein and Marianne Barton are coowners of MCHAT LLC which receives royalties from companies that incorporate the MCHAT into commercial products Data reported in the current paper is from the freely available paper version of the MCHAT Authors Emily Moulton and Kathryn Bradbury declare that they have no conflict of interestAll procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards
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