Informant Discrepancies in the Assessment of Social Skills and Behaviors of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

This article focuses on examining discrepancies between parent and teacher ratings on the Adapted Skillstreaming Checklist (ASC), a measure assessing social skills and behavioral flexibility/regulation in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) without intellectual disability (ID). In a sample of 124 U.S. children aged 6 to 11 years, no significant mean differences were found between parent and teacher ASC scores, though correlations between informants were modest (intraclass correlation coefficient = .30; Pearson r = .18). The study found no systematic trends in discrepancies across the score range and no child or parent variables moderated these differences. The findings suggest that while group-level comparisons using the ASC may not be affected by informant discrepancies, individual-level ratings show less consistency, indicating the need for practitioners to follow up on differing reports to better understand contextual factors and improve intervention planning.