The Childhood Autism Spectrum Test , abbreviated as CAST and formerly titled the Childhood Asperger Syndrome Test , is a tool to screen for autism spectrum disorder in children aged 4–11 years, in a non-clinical setting. It is also called the Social and Communication Development Questionnaire .
6-617: The questionnaire was developed by the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge , by Fiona J Scott , Simon Baron-Cohen , Patrick Bolton, and Carol Brayne . The pilot study was used to discern the preliminary cutoff scores for the CAST. Parents of 13 children with Asperger syndrome and 37 typically developing children completed the CAST questionnaire. There were significant differences in average scores, with
12-425: A mainstream non-clinical sample. Research is ongoing to establish accurate sensitivity data, validity , reliability , to replicate current findings in a larger and geographically more diverse sample, and to study the epidemiological issues in greater detail. The PhenX Toolkit uses CAST as its child protocol for symptoms of autism spectrum disorders. The CAST questionnaire contains 39 yes-or-no questions about
18-611: Is to understand the biomedical causes of autism spectrum conditions, to evaluate promising interventions for autistic people, and to improve the health and well-being of autistic people and their families. The ARC collaborates with scientists both within Cambridge University and at universities in the UK and around the world. Professor Simon Baron-Cohen is the director of the ARC and Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at
24-492: The Asperger syndrome sample average of 21.08 (range 15–31) and the typical sample average of 4.73 (range 0–13). Parents of 1,150 primary school aged children were sent the CAST questionnaire, with 199 responders and 174 taking part in the full data analysis. The results suggested that, compared to other screening tools currently available, the CAST may be useful for identifying children at risk for autism spectrum disorders, in
30-543: The University of Cambridge, as well as being a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge . The organization known as the Autism Research Trust (ART) exists to support the ARC and promote the general cause of scientific investigation into autism . Prominent individuals associated with the trust include scientific writers such as Lucy Hawking , the daughter of Stephen Hawking . The ARC has remarked in
36-468: The child's social behaviors and communication tendencies. It also contains a separate special needs section that asks about other comorbid disorders that the child might have. Autism Research Centre The Autism Research Centre ( ARC ) is a research institute that is a part of the Department of Developmental Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge , England . ARC's research goal
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