Use of the Children’s Communication Checklist-2 in School-Aged Students with Autism: A Psychometric Analysis

Measurement of social-pragmatic communication skills is essential for clinicians and researchers working with school-aged children on the autism spectrum. Many measures of these skills require time-intensive training and coding that is impractical for clinical assessment settings. Using a sample of 299 elementary school children (M = 8.6 years, sd = 1.7) with autism whose teachers completed the Children’s Communication Checklist-2, we evaluated the psychometric properties of the CCC-2, a commonly used measure of social-pragmatic skills in order to assist researchers and clinicians in identifying the utility of this measure related to their assessment needs. Our results indicate strong psychometric properties for the CCC-2 with this population and a 3-factor model fit: Structural Language, Pragmatic Communication, and Pragmatic Social. Evidence of racial/ethnic bias was found for the structural language factor. Clinical recommendations are provided for using the CCC-2 with students with autism as reported by teachers.