Abstract
•This study aims to test the reliability and validity of a Saudi version of the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC).•We believe that our study makes a significant contribution to the literature because to date, there has been no checklist available to assess Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in children within a Saudi cultural context.•This study serves to address this issue so the prevalence of ASD in Saudi Arabia can be adequately evaluated.•We believe that this paper will be of interest to the readership of your journal because it both presents a reliable and valid version of the ATEC for use in Saudi Arabia and contributes to further research supporting the overall cross-cultural adaptability of the ATEC.•This study can further the aims of special education in Saudi Arabia by not only providing a checklist for assessing if a child meets the diagnostic criteria for ASD, but it can also allow for evaluations for the effectiveness of treatments and interventions related to ASD.
Currently, there is a need in Saudi Arabia to grope the general development of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, no measures are currently available in Saudi Arabia to assess the general development in children with ASD. The present study thus aimed to explore the psychometric properties of the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC), in order to adapt it for use in Saudi Arabia. A cohort of 363 children with ASD from four age groups from Riyadh participated in the study. Teachers completed the ATEC to rate children’s behavior. The psychometric properties measured included normality of data, content validity, internal consistency, and construct validity. Content validity was established by presenting the checklist to high-qualified referees with 90 % as the minimum agreement level. Internal consistency was established by computing correlations among items and their subscales and among subscales and the total score. Construct validity was established using exploratory factorial analysis for the ATEC subscales and exploring the correlations between the ATEC and the educational stage of the participants. The reliability of the ATEC was established by Cronbach’s Alpha and split-half methods. Data revealed that the ATEC is quite valid and reliable and thus may be used in a Saudi cultural context. Our findings indicate that the Saudi version of the ATEC tested in this study may be used to identify the extent to which children with ASD benefit from the interventions offered to them in their special education programs.