Autism Spectrum Disorder Screening Instruments for Very Young Children: A Systematic Review

Table 1

Review domains and related probe questions.

(a)

Domain	Level 1 screener probe questions	Level 2 screener probe questions
Sample/participants	Was the sample appropriate in size and scope?	Was the sample appropriate in size and scope?
	How representative was the sample?	Did investigators use a sample matched for developmental level?
	Were there exclusion criteria based on other disabilities?

(b)

	Level 1 and 2 screener probe questions
Screening instrument	Was there anything about how the screener was administered that would be different from its intended use in a nonresearch, community setting?
	Were there any issues regarding the way it is scored in the study?
Reference standard	Did all children receive a BED from in-person evaluations? How extensive was the information available to the clinician making the Best Estimate Diagnosis?
	Were the reference standard evaluators blind to the screener risk status of the children?
	What diagnostic outcome categories were used to test prediction from screener to reference standard?
Timing and flow (including attrition)	Was there excessive attrition through any phase of screening and evaluation?
	Were there conditions besides attrition that filtered the negative and positive screens from the original screening to the reference standard diagnostic testing phase?
Evaluation	How were performance/predictive values calculated?
	Was performance/prediction for younger versus older children explored?
Performance	What were the performance/predictive values?
	What was the developmental level of children detected?
	Of the false positives for ASD, what proportion had other developmental or learning disabilities?