Developmental Delay & Autism Spectrum Disorder Screening Tools

The following tables provide an overview of validated screening tools for developmental delays and autism spectrum disorders. Those available for purchase are
presented in Table 1 and those that are free are presented in Table 2.

Table 1: Validated Screening Tools Available for Purchase

Age Admin
Screening Tool Description Purchase
Range Time

Ages & Stages 4 mos - 5 A series of 21 questionnaires, depending on age of 10-15 Ages & Stages website: http://www.agesandstages.com
Questionnaire (ASQ) yrs 6 mos child, with a focus on: screening for communication; mins Paul H. Brookes PublishingCompany
Available in English and gross motor; fine motor; problem solving and personal (800) 638-3775
Spanish adaptive skills. The parent completes one http://www.brookespublishing.com
questionnaire. The provider scores by transferring
answers to a scoring sheet, compares the child’s scores
to the cut-off points on the scoring sheet and
communicates the results to the parent.

Battelle Developmental Birth - 7
Inventory Screening Test, yrs 11
2nd ed (BDI-2) Available mos
in English and Spanish
This directly administered screening tool is comprised 10-30 Riverside Publishing Co.
of 96 items with a focus on: personal-social skills; mins (800) 323-9540
adaptive behavior; psychomotor ability; http://www.riverpub.com
communication and cognition (including subtests for
fine and gross motor skills and expressive and
receptive communications). The BDI-2 Screening Test
can be modified for children with special needs.

Bayley Scales of Infant 1 month - Development areas measured focus on: cognitive; 15-25 Pearson
and Toddler 3 yrs 6 language (expressive and receptive communications); mins (800) 211-8378
Development®, Third mos fine motor and gross motor domains. http://www.pearsonassess.com
Edition Screening Test
(Bayley-III®) Available in
English

Bayley Scales of Infant 1 month - Identifies motor delays in infants and toddlers. 10-20 Pearson
and Toddler 3 yrs 6 Includes growth charts for plotting motor growth over mins (800) 211-8378
Development®, Third mos time, fine motor subtests and gross motor subtests. http://www.pearsonassess.com
Edition Motor Scale Kit
(Bayley-III®) Available in
English
 Table 1: Validated Screening Tools Available for Purchase

Age Admin
Screening Tool Description Purchase
Range Time

Brigance® Infant & Birth - 23 Development areas measured focus on: fine and gross 10-15 Curriculum Associates Inc. (800) 225-0248
Toddler Screen Available mos motor; receptive and expressive communications; self- mins http://www.curriculumassociates.com
in English and Spanish help; and social-emotional scales. Accommodations
are made for infants born prematurely (until age 2).
The screen also has adjustments and separate cut-offs
for children at psychosocial risks.

Brigance® Early 24 mos - Development areas measured focus on: fine and gross 10-15 Curriculum Associates Inc. (800) 225-0248
Preschool Screen-II 5 yrs 11 motor; general comprehension; speech and language; mins http://www.curriculumassociates.com
Available in English and mos pre academic and academic, self-help and social-
Spanish emotional scales.

Brigance® Inventory for Birth -7 Development areas measured focus on: fine and gross 10-15 Curriculum Associates Inc. (800) 225-0248
Early Development-II years motor; language; early academic and cognitive mins http://www.curriculumassociates.com
(IED-II) Available in (quantitative/general and pre-reading/reading); daily
English and Spanish living and social-emotional scales.

Child Development 18 mos -5 Development areas measured focus on: social; self- 10-20 Behavior Science Systems Inc.(612) 850-8700
Review-Parent yrs help; language; gross and fine motor skills. The mins http://www.childdevrev.com
Questionnaire (CDR-PQ) provider may use this screen in two ways: as an
Available in English and observation guide and/or as a parent interview guide.
Spanish

Infant Development Birth - 18 A brief parent questionnaire used to track 5-10 Behavior Science Systems Inc.(612) 850-8700
Inventory Available in mos developmental skills with a focus on: social; self-help; mins http://www.childdevrev.com
English and Spanish language; gross and fine motor skills.

Parents' Evaluation of Birth - 8 Parents complete 10 questions designed for 2-10 Ellsworth & Vandermeer Press LLC (888) 729-1697
Developmental Status yrs surveillance and/or screening of developmental and mins http://www.pedstest.com
(PEDS) Available in behavioral problems.
English, Spanish and
Vietnamese
 Table 1: Validated Screening Tools Available for Purchase

Age Admin
Screening Tool Description Purchase
Range Time

Parents' Evaluation of Birth - 7 The PEDS-DM© can be used with the PEDS, or by 10-20 Ellsworth & Vandermeer Press LLC (888) 729-1697
Developmental Status, yrs 11 itself. PEDS-DM© consists of 6-8 items per age/ mins http://www.pedstest.com
Developmental mos encounter and is designed to replace informal
Milestones (PEDS- milestones checklists. Developmental areas measured
DM©) Available in focus on: expressive and receptive communications;
English, Spanish and fine and gross motor skills; self-help; social-emotional;
Vietnamese and for older children, reading and math.

Capute Scales (also known 3 mos - 3
as Cognitive Adaptive yrs
Test/Clinical Linguistic
Auditory Milestone Scale
[CAT/CLAMS])
Available in English,
Spanish and Russian
The Capute Scales is designed to help clinicians 6-20 Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company
distinguish between global developmental delays and mins (800) 638-3775
specific areas of concern. The Cognitive Adaptive Test http://www.brookespublishing.com
(CAT) consists of 58 items focused on visual-motor
functioning and the Clinical Linguistic and Auditory
Milestone Scale (CLAMS) consists of 42 items focused
on expressive and receptive language development.

Milestone Scale Birth - 3 The ELM Scale-2 consists of 43 items designed to 1–10 Pro-Ed Inc.
(ELMScale-2) Available yrs address speech and language development. mins (800) 897-3202
in English Development areas focus on: Auditory expressive; http://www.proedinc.com
auditory receptive; and visual.

Pervasive Developmental 12 mos - The PDDST-II is a parent-completed questionnaire 10-20 Pearson

Disorders Screening 4 yrs designed to screen for several autistic spectrum mins (800) 211-8378
Test-II (PDDST-II) disorders, including autistic disorder, pervasive http://www.pearsonassess.com
Available in English and developmental delay, and Asperger’s disorder.
Spanish
 Table 1: Validated Screening Tools Available for Purchase

Age Admin
Screening Tool Description Purchase
Range Time

Social Communication Anyone The SCQ is a parent-completed questionnaire 5–10 Western Psychological Corp.
Questionnaire (SCQ) over 4 consisting of 40 yes/no questions; designed to identify mins (800) 648-8857
(formerly Autism years of children at risk of autistic spectrum disorders. The http://www.wpspublish.com
Screening Questionnaire- age, as SCQ is available in two forms: the Lifetime Form
ASQ) Available in long as focuses on the child’s entire developmental history; the
English and Spanish his or her Current Form looks at the child’s behavior over the
mental most recent 3-month period.
age
exceeds
2.0 years
 Table 2: Free Validated Screening Tools

Age Admin
Screening Tool Description Resource Access
Range Time

Communication and 6 mos - The CSBS-DP™ is designed to address language and 5–15 The CSBS-DP™ Infant Toddler Checklist is
Symbolic Behavior 24 mos cognitive skills. Development areas measured focus minutes copyrighted but remains free for use. Information
Scales- Developmental on: emotion and eye gaze; communication; gestures; may be found online at:
Profile™ (CSBS-DP™): sounds; words; understanding; and object use. Each Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company
Infant Toddler Checklist area is measured by three main components: Infant (800) 638-3775
Available in English Toddler Checklist; Caregiver Questionnaire; and the http://www.brookespublishing.com
Behavior Sample.

Checklist for Autism in 18 mos - The CHAT consists of two sections designed to 5 mins The CHAT remains free for use. Information and
Toddlers (CHAT) 24 mos identify children at risk of Autism Spectrum Disorders. the screening tool may be found at:
Available in English The two sections (9 parent-completed questions and 5 The National Autistic Society
items of observation by a health care provider) focus +44 (0) 20-7833-2299
on the developmental behaviors concerning joint http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/
attention and pretend play. polopoly.jsp?d=10
Or by contacting:
Sally Wheelwright
Autism Research Centre Cambridge University
Douglas House
18b Trumpington Road Cambridge CB2 2AH,
UK Tel: 01223 746057 Fax: 01223 746033

Modified Checklist for 16 mos - The M-CHAT is an expanded American version of the 5–10 mins The M-CHAT is available for free download for
Autism in Toddlers (M- 4 yrs original CHAT from the UK. The M-CHAT tests for clinical, research, and educational purposes. There
CHAT) Available in Autism Spectrum Disorders against normally are two authorized websites the M-CHAT and
English and Spanish developing children and consists of 23 yes/no supplemental materials can be downloaded from:
questions. http://www.firstsigns.org
or from Dr. Robins’ website:
http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwpsy/faculty/
robins.htm