Abstract
Objective:
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC) which is a screening instrument for autism composed of 57 items.
Method:
The psychometric properties of ABC were examined on a sample of479 Turkish children between ages 3-15. 208 children in the sample was patients who had been previously diagnosed as autism, 97 children was patients that had been diagnosed as mental retardation and 174 children in the sample had no disabilities.
Results:
The rate of correct classification wasfound to be 88°% for ABC. The cut off score of the checklist was 39. Results showed that alpha coefficient and split half reliability for the ABC total score were 0.92. Interrater reliability by two independent teachers of 100 children was .86 while .59 by one parent and one teacher. The diagnosis and severity of the problem were used as external criteria. The results supported criteria related validity of the instrument.
Discussion:
These findings suggested that the validity and the reliability of ABC were satisfactory for the Turkish sample.
Keywords: Autism, mental retardation, validity, reliability, Autism Behavior Checklist, ABC
