Tempering tales of a new autism measure: A conversation with Thomas Frazier

Abstract

On 11 January 2023, as the workday began, Thomas Frazier experienced academic whiplash. First, the editors at Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology let him know that they had published his paper on a new autism trait measure. Then, an hour later, a colleague alerted him that the Daily Mail had covered it, with a splashy headline boasting the tool's ability to "diagnose autism with up to 95 percent accuracy." "I freaked out," says Frazier, professor of psychology at John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio. According to Frazier, the data behind the new measure, the Autism Symptom Dimensions Questionnaire (ASDQ), are far too preliminary to justify its clinical use absent the addition of other validated measures.