Sturm, Huang, Bal and Schwartzman (2024)

Adults are increasingly using the surveys for Autism screening. Those using the surveys and clinicians need to be sure that the results of the surveys are accurate. There are concerns that these surveys do not identify Autistic individuals accurately and that the survey results are not accurate across groups of individuals. This article examines the accuracy of RAADS-R and RAADS-14, two commonly used screening surveys. A 839 adults took the two surveys to test their accuracy. The adults were split into four groups: Diagnosed Autistic; Self-identified but not diagnosed; unsure whether they were Autistic or not; adults who had not been diagnosed and did not consider themselves Autistic. The results showed that the RAADS-R and the RAADS-14 are accurate. The study found that age, gender, diagnosis status or self-identification as Autistic did not impact how they understood the survey. A key finding of the study was that those with a clinical diagnosis and those who self-identified as Autistic answered in a very similar way. Those with a diagnosis and those who were unsure if they were Autistic had the most difference in their responses. Lastly the study identified four specific survey questions relating to sensory experiences and social interactions that were a key difference between Autistic and non-Autistic adults.

View Resource