Brief report: Validity and reliability of the Nigerian Autism Screening Questionnaire.
Muideen O Bakare, Thomas W Frazier, Arun Karpur and 11 others
PMID 35261274WHAT IT FOUND
In 12,311 Nigerian children aged 1-18, a parent-reported autism questionnaire grouped symptoms into social communication, repetitive sensory motor behavior, and insistence on sameness.
It was not checked against diagnosis.
Key findings
01The final sample included 12,311 participants aged 1-18, and 15.9% had a developmental concern.
02The remaining 24 core autism items formed three interpretable groups: social communication/interaction, repetitive sensory motor behavior, and insistence on sameness.
03The total score was consistent across its items (α = .88 in the full sample and α = .88 to .89 across age groups), and it behaved similarly for boys and girls and for ages 1-18.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study did not confirm autism with a gold-standard diagnosis or compare the questionnaire with other autism measures, so diagnostic accuracy is unknown. The questionnaire used only yes/no answers and was tested across ages 1-18, which may make it less sensitive to change or less appropriate for very young children. Some items may not apply to children under 3 and need evaluation in a larger sample of very young children. It was tested in a general household survey without gold-standard diagnostic confirmation, so its usefulness for diagnosis in clinic was not established. The authors suggest scores 8-11 may be useful cut points to explore, but this was not tested against diagnosis.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. The underlying survey was developed through a partnership involving the World Bank and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The lead author and co-authors work for a leading international organization advocating for the rights of people with ASD and their families.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat a NASQ score as an autism diagnosis. The study did not compare scores with gold-standard diagnostic confirmation or other autism measures, so it shows that the items hang together and score consistently, not that the questionnaire accurately identifies children with ASD.