Q-CHAT

Validated

Quantitative Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (Q-CHAT, 25 items)

18 – 24 monthsParent~8 min25 questions

Please answer the following questions about your child. Try to answer EVERY question if you can.

Report details · optional

Patient initials / IDCompleted byDate

Shown on the report and stored with the screening record. Use initials or a code, not full names.

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About this screener — evidence, source, alternatives

A quantitative revision of the CHAT. Each of 25 questions about joint attention, pretend play, language, repetitive behaviour and sensory responses is rated on a 5-point scale and scored 0–4, giving a dimensional total of 0–100. The ten Q-CHAT-10 items are also scored so the brief referral threshold can be applied.

Evidence · provisional

Scores are near-normally distributed: unselected toddlers (n = 754, mean age 21 months) averaged 26.7 (SD 7.8) and children with an autism diagnosis (n = 160, mean age 44 months) 51.8 (SD 14.3); test–retest ICC 0.82 (Allison et al., 2008). No cut-off for the 25-item total has been published, and the authors did not recommend the full Q-CHAT as a stand-alone clinical screen. The embedded Q-CHAT-10 (> 3) gave sensitivity 0.91 and specificity 0.89 in a case–control sample (Allison et al., 2012).

Free alternative to

M-CHAT-R/F · Robins, Fein & Barton
The most widely used toddler autism screen; electronic reproduction requires permission, so use the authors’ own free online version.
Infant-Toddler Checklist (CSBS-DP) · Brookes Publishing
Early social-communication checklist distributed by its publisher.

Source & licence

Allison C, Baron-Cohen S, Wheelwright S, Charman T, Richler J, Pasco G, Brayne C. The Q-CHAT (Quantitative CHecklist for Autism in Toddlers): a normally distributed quantitative measure of autistic traits at 18–24 months of age: preliminary report. J Autism Dev Disord. 2008;38(8):1414–1425. Allison C, Auyeung B, Baron-Cohen S. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2012;51(2):202–212.

Licence: © Autism Research Centre, University of Cambridge — free for research and clinical use, non-commercial, with acknowledgement

ARC terms: tests may be used free of charge for non-commercial purposes with due acknowledgement of ARC as the source, and may not be adapted or modified without ARC permission. For-profit or commercial users may need a licence (via ePROVIDE). Reproduced unmodified; rights holders can contact us to correct or remove.

Official source ↗