The Childhood Autism Spectrum Test, abbreviated as CAST and formerly titled the Childhood Asperger Syndrome Test, is a tool to screen for autism spectrum disorder in children aged 4–11 years, in a non-clinical setting.
[2] The questionnaire was developed by the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge, by Fiona J Scott, Simon Baron-Cohen, Patrick Bolton, and Carol Brayne.
Parents of 1,150 primary school aged children were sent the CAST questionnaire, with 199 responders and 174 taking part in the full data analysis.
The results suggested that, compared to other screening tools currently available, the CAST may be useful for identifying children at risk for autism spectrum disorders, in a mainstream non-clinical sample.
Research is ongoing to establish accurate sensitivity data,[3] validity, reliability,[4] to replicate current findings in a larger and geographically more diverse sample, and to study the epidemiological issues in greater detail.