Use of the Children's Communication Checklist-2 in School-Aged Students with Autism: A Psychometric Analysis.

Researchers studied a communication checklist (CCC-2) that teachers can fill out about children with autism. They looked at 299 children around 8-9 years old. The checklist works well for measuring how children with autism communicate socially and use language. However, the test may not work fairly for children from different racial or ethnic backgrounds. Teachers can use this checklist to better understand a child's communication strengths and needs.

This psychometric study evaluated the Children's Communication Checklist-2 (CCC-2) in 299 elementary school children with autism (mean age 8.6 years) using teacher reports. The research aimed to assess whether this commonly used social-pragmatic communication measure has strong measurement properties for autism populations. Results demonstrated strong psychometric properties and identified a three-factor structure: Structural Language, Pragmatic Communication, and Pragmatic Social. However, evidence of racial/ethnic bias was detected in the structural language factor.

The study provides clinical recommendations for using the CCC-2 with autistic students, offering guidance for researchers and clinicians seeking practical communication assessment tools that don't require intensive training or coding procedures.

The CCC-2 can be confidently used by clinicians as a practical communication assessment tool for school-aged children with autism. However, clinicians should be aware of potential bias when assessing children from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds, particularly regarding structural language skills. The three-factor structure can guide targeted intervention planning.

The abstract does not specify study limitations. As a psychometric validation study, limitations may include generalizability to other age groups, reliance on teacher reports only, and the identified racial/ethnic bias in one factor.

Measurement of social-pragmatic communication skills is essential for clinicians and researchers working with school-aged children on the autism spectrum. Many measures of these skills require time-intensive training and coding that is impractical for clinical assessment settings. Using a sample of 299 elementary school children (M = 8.6 years, sd = 1.7) with autism whose teachers completed the Children's Communication Checklist-2, we evaluated the psychometric properties of the CCC-2, a commonly used measure of social-pragmatic skills in order to assist researchers and clinicians in identifying the utility of this measure related to their assessment needs. Our results indicate strong psychometric properties for the CCC-2 with this population and a 3-factor model fit: Structural Language, Pragmatic Communication, and Pragmatic Social.

Evidence of racial/ethnic bias was found for the structural language factor. Clinical recommendations are provided for using the CCC-2 with students with autism as reported by teachers.