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Infant Toddler Checklist (ITC)
Last updated on Jun 29, 2020 in CAR Autism Roadmap™
The Infant Toddler Checklist (ITC) is a parent questionnaire. It is a sub-part of the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales. The ITC identifies children between the ages of 6 to 24 months of age who have any type of communication delay, including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It is available freely on the internet and is used in both research and clinical settings.
| Name | Infant Toddler Checklist (ITC) |
|---|---|
| Reference | Wetherby A, Prizant B (2002). The Infant Toddler Checklist from the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales. Baltimore: Brookes Publishing. |
| Summary | The ITC is a parent questionnaire component of the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (which is a direct assessment). The ITC is freely available on the Internet. It was developed as a broad-band screener of communication in children ages 6-24 months. It has been shown to identify children on the autism spectrum as well (Wetherby, Brosnan-Maddox, Peace & Newton, 2009). In the Wetherby study, 5385 children were administered the ITC between the ages of 6-24 months; 60 were diagnosed with ASD after the age of 3. The authors looked at these children's earlier ITC scores and found that 56 of them had screened positive on the ITC. As a communication screener, the ITC identifies children with any type of communication delays, including ASD. Thus, the extent to which the ITC can distinguish between ASD and other communication delays is not well studied. |
| Age Range | 6-24 months |
| Format | 24 item parent questionnaire rated on a 3 point Likert scale |
| Results Yielded | Total Score, as well as Speech, Symbolic, and Social composite scores. |
| Author's Suggested Uses and Cautions | Children whose scores are below the 10th percentile in either the Symbolic or Social composites, or on the Total score, should be further evaluated for ASD. |
| Development and Ongoing Research | The authors are continuously studying and refining the use of the ITC as a broad ASD screener. The measure has been widely adopted in clinical settings, and research using it has contributed significantly to the literature on early signs of ASD. |
Additional Resources
The Center for Autism Research and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia do not endorse or recommend any specific person or organization or form of treatment. The information included within the CAR Autism Roadmap™ and CAR Resource Directory™ should not be considered medical advice and should serve only as a guide to resources publicly and privately available. Choosing a treatment, course of action, and/or a resource is a personal decision, which should take into account each individual's and family's particular circumstances.