The Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) is a 40-item instrument designed to screen children at risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Both Lifetime and Current forms of the scale are available. Although these forms are manageable for many respondents, their use may result in substantial respondent and administrative burden, particularly among individuals who have difficulty reading, have physical illness, and/or are asked to take multiple questionnaires. The objective of this research was to examine the potential of two stopping rules for computer-based testing (namely, curtailment and stochastic curtailment) to shorten the SCQ without compromising its screening properties. A retrospective analysis was conducted using data from the National Database for Autism Research (NDAR); responses regarding 1236 at-risk individuals from the SCQ Lifetime and 709 at-risk individuals from the SCQ Current were analyzed. In post-hoc simulation, curtailment reduced mean test lengths by 29% to 44% compared to the full-length Lifetime form, and by 25% to 39% compared to the full-length Current form, while providing the same screening result as the corresponding full-length form in 100% of cases. Stochastic curtailment made further reductions in test length, but was not always concordant with the full-length form’s screening result. These findings suggest that curtailment has potential to improve the efficiency of the SCQ in computer-based administrations and should be tested prospectively.

社会沟通问卷（SCQ）是一项40项工具，旨在筛查有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）风险的儿童。生命周期表和当前表都可用。尽管这些表格对于许多受访者而言都是可管理的，但使用它们可能会导致大量的受访者和行政负担，尤其是在阅读困难，身体疾病和/或被要求进行多次问卷调查的个人中。这项研究的目的是检查两种基于计算机的测试停止规则（即缩减和随机缩减）的潜力，以缩短SCQ而不损害其筛选性能。使用国家自闭症研究数据库（NDAR）的数据进行回顾性分析；分析了来自SCQ Lifetime的1236位高风险个体和来自SCQ Current的709位高风险个体的响应。在事后模拟中，与全长“生存时间”形式相比，缩减使平均测试长度减少了29％至44％，与全长“当前”形式相比减少了25％至39％，同时提供了与测试结果相同的筛选结果。在100％的情况下是相应的全长形式。随机缩减使测试长度进一步减少，但并不总是与全长表格的筛选结果一致。这些发现表明，削减有可能提高基于计算机的管理中SCQ的效率，应进行前瞻性测试。缩减使平均测试时间比全长Lifetime表格减少了29％至44％，与全长Current表格相比减少了25％至39％，同时提供了与相应的Full-length表格相同的筛选结果100％的情况。随机缩减使测试长度进一步减少，但并不总是与全长表格的筛选结果一致。这些发现表明，削减有可能提高基于计算机的管理中SCQ的效率，应进行前瞻性测试。缩减使平均测试时间比全长Lifetime表格减少了29％至44％，与全长Current表格相比减少了25％至39％，同时提供了与相应的Full-length表格相同的筛选结果100％的情况。随机缩减使测试长度进一步减少，但并不总是与全长表格的筛选结果一致。这些发现表明，削减有可能提高基于计算机的管理中SCQ的效率，应进行前瞻性测试。但并不总是与全长表格的筛选结果一致。这些发现表明，削减有可能提高基于计算机的管理中SCQ的效率，应进行前瞻性测试。但并不总是与全长表格的筛选结果一致。这些发现表明，削减有可能提高基于计算机的管理中SCQ的效率，应进行前瞻性测试。