The diagnosis of Asperger syndrome: a pilot study of Czech version ASSQ and ASAS

In a theoretical part of the present study we describe history, epidemiology, ethiology, diagnostic classification, diagnostic criteria and clinical features of Asperger syndrome, comorbidity, theory of autism, differential diagnosis and diagnostic methods for the Asperger syndrome. A practical part of this study examines the validity and reliability of two diagnostic schedule - ASSQ - High-functioning Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire/Asperger Syndrome Screening Questionnaire - and ASAS - Australian Scale for Asperger Syndrome. ASSQ and ASAS are checklists for a completion on by lay informants when assessing symptoms characteristic of Asperger syndrome and other high-functioning autism spectrum disorders in children and adolescents with a normal intelligence. Data for the parent and teacher ratings in the samples (sample AUT comprised 42 6- to 16-years-old children (39 boys, 3 girls) with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism, the sample LMD comprised 143 cases (130 boys, 13 girls) with ADHD and leaming disorders and the control group of 163 participants (147 boys, 16 girls) from mainstream schools without any formal diagnosis) are presented along with various measures of reliability and validity. Optimal cut-off scores are estimated by the best ratio of the true positive rate (sensitivity) to..