AQ-10 — for adolescents and adults
| Type | Ultra-short screening questionnaire (case-finding) |
|---|---|
| Versions | Adult (16+), Adolescent (12–15), and Child (4–11) forms |
| Format | 10 statements rated on an agree/disagree scale; roughly 2 minutes |
| Origin | Distilled from the 50-item AQ by Allison, Auyeung & Baron-Cohen (Cambridge Autism Research Centre), 2012 |
| Cutoff | A score of 6 or above is the published threshold for considering referral for a full assessment |
The AQ-10's significance is institutional: UK NICE guidance recommends it as a case-finding tool when autism is suspected in adults, which makes it the questionnaire many people meet at the very start of an NHS referral pathway. A GP handing you ten questions is not dismissing you — that's the tool the guideline names.
Q-CHAT-10 — for toddlers
| Type | Ultra-short screening questionnaire |
|---|---|
| Age range | Roughly 18–24 months |
| Format | 10 parent-answered questions drawn from the longer Quantitative CHAT (Q-CHAT) |
| Origin | Allison, Baron-Cohen et al., Cambridge Autism Research Centre |
| Cutoff | A score of 3 or above suggests referral for further assessment |
Q-CHAT-10 asks about the same early territory as other toddler screens: pointing, following a point, pretend play, response to name, unusual sensory interests. Both instruments are freely available for clinical and research use from the Cambridge Autism Research Centre.
The honest trade-off. Ten questions buy speed at the cost of precision. Very short screens produce more false alarms and more misses than longer ones, and much of their validation was done in samples enriched with people already seeking assessment — which flatters their accuracy relative to how they perform in the general population. For toddlers specifically, the M-CHAT-R/F has a substantially stronger evidence base and a structured follow-up step; if you have a choice, use it. Treat a ten-item score as a nudge toward a conversation, never as an answer.
What to do with a score
- Above the cutoff: that is the tool doing its job — take it to a clinician and ask for a fuller assessment. For a toddler, also run the M-CHAT-R/F, and start early intervention in parallel.
- Below the cutoff, but you're still concerned: your concern outranks the score. Ten questions cannot capture a child who masks, and they cannot capture an adult who has spent thirty years compensating. Say so, and ask anyway.
For adults thinking about their own assessment, the fuller picture — including the AQ-50 and RAADS-R and what an adult evaluation actually involves — is on the adult tests page. What any of these screens ultimately point toward is set out in the diagnostic criteria.
Medical disclaimer: Educational information only. The AQ-10 and Q-CHAT-10 belong to their authors at the Cambridge Autism Research Centre; no questionnaire items are reproduced here. Neither instrument diagnoses anything; consult a qualified clinician.