Modified Early Childhood Autism Questionnaire
Please answer the following questions based on your toddler’s usual behavior. Try to answer all your questions. If the activity or behavior in the question is rare (you have only experienced it once or twice in the child so far), then the question should notbe answered with a mel.
Child’s name: Date of birth: Today’s date:
|
1. Does your child like to be rocked, rocked, ridden on the knees, etc.? |
Yes |
No |
|
2. Does your child have an interest in other children? |
Yes |
No |
|
3. Does your child like to climb things, eg. stairs? |
Yes |
No |
|
4. Does your child enjoy playing hide and seek games? |
Yes |
No |
|
5. Is your child used to role-playing games (pretending to be on the phone, caring for a baby, etc.)? |
Yes |
No |
|
6. Does your child point out with his index finger things that he would like to receive? |
Yes |
No |
|
7. Does your child point out things of interest to him with his index finger, thereby expressing his interest? |
Yes |
No |
|
8. Can your child use their smaller toy items for their intended purpose (pushing the small car, trying to build from the bricks, rather than just taking it in their mouth, poking them, throwing them off)? |
Yes |
No |
|
9. Will your child bring you things to show you something? |
Yes |
No |
|
10. Will your child look into your eyes for more than a second or two? |
Yes |
No |
|
11. Does your child appear to be hypersensitive to noises (e.g. they often catch their ears)? |
Yes |
No |
|
12. Will your child smile back when he sees your face, your smile? |
Yes |
No |
|
13. Does your child imitate you (e.g. facial expression, grimace)? |
Yes |
No |
|
14. Does your child listen to his own name , does he pay attention when you call him by his name? |
Yes |
No |
|
15. If you point to a toy that is at the other end of the room, does your child look at the toy as well ? |
Yes |
No |
|
16. Can your child walk? |
Yes |
No |
|
17. Does your child follow your gaze? Does he also look at the things that you are looking at with interest? |
Yes |
No |
|
18. Does your child have a weird way of moving their fingers around their face? |
Yes |
No |
|
19. Does your child try to draw your attention to what they are doing, playing? |
Yes |
No |
|
20. Have you ever wondered if your child might be deaf? |
Yes |
No |
|
21. Does your child understand what people say? |
Yes |
No |
|
22. Does it happen that your child stares into nothingness or walks aimlessly in a mess? |
Yes |
No |
|
23. When in an unknown, foreign situation, does your child look at your face, check your facial expression, reaction? |
Yes |
No |
Guide to the useof M-CHAT, user rights and obligations
The Modified Early Childhood Autism Questionnaire (M-CHAT; Robins, Fein, & Barton, 1999) and its supplementary materials are freely available for download from official resources for clinical, research, and educational purposes. There are two official sources, the www.firstsigns.org site and dr. Robins’ website, http://www.mchatscreen.com.
The M-CHAT questionnaire is still the subject of research, so it may be modified even further in the future. All newer versions will also be available on the above two websites.
The M-CHAT questionnaire is protected by copyright. Each user is obliged to adhere to the following rules:
- At the bottom of each copy or printout of the M-CHAT questionnaire, a copyright indication of the ownership of the authors must be indicated ( © 1999 Robins, Fein, & Barton). Questions, the order of questions, or instructions for users cannot be modified without the permission of the authors.
- The M-CHAT questionnaire should be used in its entirety. Based on any part of the questionnaire, we cannot obtain demonstrably credible information.
- The permission of the authors must be requested for the printed publication of the M-CHAT questionnaire (in books, journal articles, etc.) or for its electronic use (for anamnesis and other similar software uses that can be stored on a computer ). Diana Robins can be contacted at mchatscreen2009@gmail.com email address.
- Users working in medical practices are free to use the M-CHAT questionnaire in their own practice (e.g. electronic anamnesis), but if they would like to publish or distribute the document outside their practice, please contact Diana Robins at the email address above and ask her for permission.
Instructions for use
M-CHAT is a certified questionnaire that can help screen young children aged 16-30 months for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The questionnaire can also be completed and evaluated as part of a routine medical review (status test), but it can also be used by specialists and other specialists in autism spectrum disorder screening.
The essence of the M-CHAT questionnaire is to be as sensitive a screening material as possible, that is, with its help we can treat as many autism spectrum disorders as possible. Consequently, the questionnaire often gives a false positive result. This means that not all children who receive high scores on this questionnaire will end up being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. To refine the false positive results, the authors developed a guided follow-up interview, which should be used in accordance with the M-CHAT questionnaire and can also be freely downloaded from the two websites mentioned above. Users of the questionnaire should be aware that even after the follow-upinterview has been conducted and evaluated, a significant number of children remain who are screened by the M-CHAT survey, but are not later found to be people with autism spectrum disorder. At the same time, these children are at risk of having some other developmental disabilities or lagging behind. Based on this, the authors recommend that all children who receive a high autism spectrum disorder score on the M-CHAT survey should proceed to the appropriate screening tests.
The M-CHAT questionnaire can be evaluated in less than two minutes, the author’s instructions can be downloaded from the www.firstsigns.org or http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwpsy/faculty/robins.htm pages.
Children who do not show the normal result or developmental stage for 3 or more questions or 2 or more critical questions (especially if a follow-up interview related to the M-CHAT questionnaire also shows the discrepancy at the same points) should continue to for review by a specialist specializing in screening for autism spectrum disorders in early childhood. In addition, since no screening device can be 100% sensitive, the authors also recommend reviewing all young children whose parents, doctors, or other professionals are suspected of autism spectrum disorders.
Evaluation of the M-CHAT questionnaire
The M-CHAT questionnaire should preferably not be evaluated by the person who picked it up. During the verification of M-CHAT, for example, it was the authors themselves who evaluated all the questionnaires, not their colleagues. Furthermore, the M-CHAT questionnaire is not there for parents to filter their own children with its help. The authors strongly warn that if a parent begins to worry about the development or health of their child, they should first visit a pediatrician.
The first version of the M-CHAT questionnaire was compiled in the UK, called CHAT. The first version was further developed by American researchers, creating the current M-CHAT questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of 23 questions to be decided.
According to the questionnaire, a small child is at increased risk of having an autism spectrum disorder if 2 critical questions or any 3 questions are not answered correctly. Yes/no answers to the questions to be decided fall into the ‘appropriate’ or ‘inappropriate’ categories at the time of the assessment, as shown in the table below :
The table shows the answers specific to the risk group for inadequate autism spectrum disorders, with thickened highlights indicating critical issues. When the questionnaire response matches the answer in the table, it represents one point.
|
1. Yes |
6. Yes |
11. Yes |
16. No |
21. Yes |
|
2. Yes |
7. No |
12. Yes |
17. No |
22. Yes |
|
3. Yes |
8. Yes |
13. Yes |
18. Yes |
23. Yes |
|
4. Gender |
9. Gender |
14. No |
19. No |
|
|
5. Yes |
10. Yes |
15. No |
20. Yes |
|
Not all young children who are in the high-risk group based on the M-CHAT questionnaire will actually diagnosed with some form of autism spectrum disorder. The compilers of the questionnaire recommend that all such young children be thoroughly examined by a competent specialist.
Understanding is the first step
Young people with autism learn from childhood how to understand the world around them and behave in the way expected by the environment. They don’t lack emotions; they just don’t know how to express them in a way others can understand. During years of work, they develop their ability to express and cooperate. The earlier they start dealing with an autistic child in this way, the greater the chance that he will be successful in social relations later on.
It is important that when we communicate with an autistic individual, we understand the limitations he lives with and recognizes the efforts he makes. Let’s show him patience and acceptance.
