ASSQ (Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire)
The ASSQ (Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire) is a screening questionnaire for autism.
These screening questionnaires are protected by copyright, owned by Christopher Gillberg. They are currently unavailable and will return shortly. The continued use of these questionnaires is prohibited and unauthorised.
If you currently possess a copy of any of the questionnaires, please cease publication and/or distribution of them immediately. If you wish to continue with publication and/or distribution, please contact anna.spyrou@gnc.gu.se to discuss a financial agreement to do so.
To notify us of a suspected Copyright infringement please contact: Anna Spyrou, Communications Manager anna.spyrou@gnc.gu.se
You are reminded that previous access and use was authorised on the condition that you registered with the GNC and therefore, historic unregistered users are also required to cease using the questionnaires and encouraged to register when they become available in the near future.
About the ASSQ
The ASSQ is a screening questionnaire for autism designed by Ehlers and Gillberg and further developed in collaboration with Lorna Wing in order to study prevalence of Asperger’s syndrome. It has since then become one of the most widely used autism screening tools in the world.
Contact us
For questions regarding the ASSQ questionnaire please contact
Anna Spyrou anna.spyrou@gnc.gu.se
How is the ASSQ scored?
The ASSQ consists of 27 items/statements. The questionnaire is scored using a likert scale, with the following alternatives for each item: “not true” (0 points), “somewhat true” (1 point) and “certainly true” (2 points). All points are tallied up to produce a total score (maximum of 54 points).
Psychometric properties
Studies have reported the test-retest reliability of teacher scoring at 0.90-0.94 (Ehlers and Gillberg 1993; Ehlers et al 1999) and parent scoring at 0.96; inter-rater reliability between parents and teachers was 0.79 (Ehlers and Gillberg, 1993). As for the questionnaire’s validity, a Norwegian study reported sensitivity of 0.91 and specificity of 0.86 when a cut-off score of 17 was used (Posserud et al 2009).
How the ASSQ is used
Recommended cut-off scores vary somewhat depending on the country, whether parents or teachers are used as informants and whether the main priority is high sensitivity, specificity or both. In Sweden, 15 points is considered the cut-off score for non-clinical populations and 19 for clinical populations.
An extended version (ASSQ-REV) has also been developed in order to identify girls with autism.
The most prominent publications on this subject are Ehlers and Gillberg 1993, Ehlers et al 1999, Posserud et al 2006, Hepburn et al 2008, Posserud et al 2009, Kopp and Gillberg 2010, Guo et al 2011 and Mattilla et al 2012.