Caregiver Perceptions of Social Communication and Interaction: Development and Validation of the SCIPS

Social communication and interaction (SC/I) skill quality may be influenced by cultural values, norms, and expectations. Because difficulties in SC/I is a core criterion for identifying autism and is a frequent construct of interest in autism research, a measure designed to capture cross-cultural differences in the perspectives of SC/I skills is warranted. To address this need we developed and validated the Social Communication and Interaction Perceptions Scale (SCIPS), a caregiver report measure for children ages 6–18 years, that measures both frequency and perceived importance of various SC/I skills. Results from 401 diverse caregiver participants showed that for both domains (i.e., Frequency and Importance) the SCIPS has good reliability (α = 0.88-0.95) and two factors that examine basic and advanced aspects of SC/I skills. Findings support the use of the SCIPS as a measure of caregiver perspectives of SC/I skills in clinical and research contexts.