Using the AQ-10 with adults who have a borderline or mild intellectual disability: pilot analysis of an adapted AQ-10 (AQ-10 intellectual disability)

Background: There is a need for appropriate screening tools for case identification of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in those with intellectual disabilities (ID) given the high co-occurrence of the two conditions. The AQ-10 is the screening tool recommended by NICE for the identification of ASD in adults with a borderline or mild intellectual disability. However, the AQ-10 was not developed with this population in mind.

Method: A mixed-methods approach was used to investigate the utility of the AQ-10 in its original form as a case identification tool. The AQ-10 was then redesigned and piloted. Qualitative results revealed individuals with a borderline or mild ID found the AQ-10 too inaccessible in its current format.

Results: Following revision, the diagnostic validity of the revised measure (AQ-10-ID) showed good sensitivity (0.85) and specificity (0.77), whereas the diagnostic validity of the original AQ- 10 was poor. The internal consistency for the AQ-10-ID was 0.67 and 0.30 for the AQ-10.

Conclusions: These findings indicate that changes may be needed to the AQ-10 before clinicians consider using as a screen tools for adults with an intellectual disability.