Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to develop a Korean version of the Checklist for Autism in Toddlers(K-CHAT). CHAT was designed specifically the early detection of autism in children around 18 months of age. First, we developed items for the Korean version(K-CHAT) based on the CHAT, and examined the content and construct validity. Second, we examined whether the K-CHAT was reliable and valid for Korean toddlers. The K-CHAT was administrated to 146 normal toddlers, 49 autistic children and 49 MR children. The trend analysis of the K-CHAT item responses by age revealed that more than 80% of the 18 month toddlers passed on all the items, which indicates that the K-CHAT is appropriate as a screening instrument for 18 month toddlers. The autism-specific items of K-CHAT differentiated the autistic group from the MR and the normal groups, which supported the discriminant validity of the K-CHAT. The K-CHAT total scores correlated positively with the K-CARS scores, indicating the appropriate concurrent validity of the K-CHAT. These results strongly support the validity of the K-CHAT as an early screening instrument of autism.