Diana L. Robins, Ph.D.
M-CHATTM
The Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT™; Robins, Fein, & Barton, 1999) is available for free download for clinical, research, and educational purposes. Please download this document for instructions for use. If you would prefer a version with a header added to collect name, date of birth, and other information, please download this version: M-CHAT with header.
The M-CHAT™ is a copyrighted instrument, and use of the M-CHAT must follow these guidelines:
(1) Reprints/reproductions of the M-CHAT must include the copyright at the bottom (© 1999 Robins, Fein, & Barton). No modifications can be made to items or instructions without permission from the authors.
(2)The M-CHAT must be used in its entirety.
(3)Parties interested in reproducing the M-CHAT in print (e.g., a book or journal article) or electronically (e.g., as part of digital medical records or software packages to be distributed to others) must contact Diana Robins to request permission.
(4)If you are part of a medical practice, and you want to incorporate the M-CHAT into your own practice’s electronic medical record (EMR), you are welcome to do so, free of charge, provided that as you are making this electronic M-CHAT just for use in your own office's medical record. You must follow the requirements that you do not alter the instrument's name, instructions, items, item order, or the copyright notice at the bottom. If in the future you are ever interested in marketing or distributing any electronic format of the M-CHAT, you will need to contact Diana Robins to develop a licensing agreement.
The M-CHAT Follow-Up Interview™ is available for download here: M-CHAT Follow-up Interview. The interview is designed to reduce the false positive rate (false positive cases are children who fail the M-CHAT but do not have an autism spectrum disorder). It is highly recommended that M-CHAT users also incorporate the M-CHAT Follow-up Interview into the screening process, given that recent findings demonstrate that the interview greatly reduces the false positive rate, which avoids unnecessary referrals. For more information, please refer to the following references:
Robins (2008) Autism
Kleinman et al. (2008) Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
M-CHAT scoring documents and programs are available for download here for personal use only. You may not distribute these outside your practice or group. We are in the process of developing easier scoring methods.
electronic scoring program: M-CHAT_Scoring.xls. Note: You will need Microsoft Excel to use this scoring program.
The M-CHAT scoring template can be printed on an overhead transparency and then laid over the M-CHAT in order to score more easily. If it does not line up properly with your copy of the M-CHAT, please download the official M-CHAT from this website and try again. If you still have problems, please email Diana Robins’ research lab at DevNeuro@gsu.edu, since we continue to improve the M-CHAT scoring options.
The M-CHAT™ is available in a number of different languages. Users should be aware that validation of these translations is still under way. When available, references are provided for published work based on a translation. The translations available for download are:
Arabic- version 2 with scoring instructions and Follow-Up Interview
Bangla; for more information on this translation, please email
Bulgarian; with scoring instructions
Chinese
Czech
Dutch; for more information on this translation, please email
Greek- version 1; for more information on this translation, please email or see www.pediatrician.gr
Greek- version 2; for more information on this translation, please email
Gujarati
Italian and M-CHAT Follow-up Interview; for more information on this translation, please email
Japanese
Japanese with illustrations
Kannada; for more information on this translation, please email
Khmae; for more information on this translation, please email
Korean; for more information on this translation, please email
Kurdish; for more information on this translation, please email
Malay; for more information on this translation, please email
Portuguese - Portugal; for more information on this translation, please email
Russian and M-CHAT Scoring; for more information on this translation, please email
Sinhala; for more information on this translation, please email
Somalian; for more information on this translation, please email
Spanish - Western Hemisphere version
Spanish - Spain version; for more information on this translation, please email
Swedish and Swedish M-CHAT Follow-up Interview
Tamil
Turkish; for more information on this translation, please email
Vietnamese; for more information on this translation, please email
Translations in progress (available soon):
Hmong
Polish
Thai
If you are interested in translating the M-CHAT into another language, or creating an alternate translation for a language above, the requirements are as follows:
Rights for the M-CHAT are retained by the original M-CHAT authors. The translation must retain the original M-CHAT copyright at the bottom of the document. It is recommended that translators add a line below the original copyright naming the translator(s) and the date of translation, but this is not required.
All translators are required to submit the final translation to Diana Robins in PDF format, by emailing the document to drobins@gsu.edu. We retain the right to post all translations to this website for free download by other users, and to include the translation in the forthcoming M-CHAT manual.
The process we recommend for translation is to have someone bilingual translate, and then a second bilingual person who hasn't seen the English version back translate into English. Discrepancies can be identified and fixed through further translation-back translation procedures. This can be repeated as needed until the back-translation is equivalent to the original English.
IF YOU CONDUCT WELL-CHILD CHECK-UPS IN TODDLERS 16-30 MONTHS OLD AND PRACTICE WITHIN 60-MILES OF DOWNTOWN ATLANTA, YOU ARE ELIGIBLE TO JOIN OUR CURRENT METRO-ATLANTA M-CHAT STUDY. TO JOIN OUR STUDY, PLEASE DOWNLOAD THE ATTACHED ENROLLMENT PACKET, AND RETURN THE ENROLLMENT FORM TO US.
Recommended resources about screening:
http://www.firstsigns.org/
http://www.aap.org/healthtopics/autism.cfm
http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/Oct07autism.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/screening.htm
http://www.pedstest.com/
For a Japanese language website on screening, please see:
http://www.ncnp.go.jp/nimh/jidou/research.html
PDF Copies of the following M-CHAT-related publications are available for download here:
Robins, D. L. (2008). Screening for autism spectrum disorders in primary care settings. Autism 12 (5), 537-556.
Pandey, J., Verbalis, A., Robins, D.L., Boorstein, H., Klin, A., Babitz, T., Chawarska, K., Volkmar, F., Green, J., Barton, M., & Fein, D. (2008). Screening for autism in older and younger toddlers.. Autism 12 (5), 513-535.
Kleinman, J.M., Robins, D.L., Ventola, P.E., Pandey, J., Boorstein, H.C., Esser, E.L., Wilson, L.B., Rosenthal, M.A., Sutera, S., Verbalis, A.D., Marshia, G., Barton, M. Hodgson, S., Green, J., Dumont-Mathieu, T., Volkmar, F., Chawarska, K., Klin, A., & Fein, D. (2008). The Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers: A follow-up study investigating the early detection of autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. Available at JADD Online First, September 20, 2007.
Robins, D.L. & Dumont-Mathieu, T. (2006). The Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT): A review of current findings and future directions. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 27 (Supplement 2), S111-S119.
Robins, D., Fein, D., Barton, M., Green, J. (2001). The Modified-Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT): An initial investigation in the early detection of autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31 (2), 131-144.
Robins, D., Fein, D., & Barton, M. (2001). Reply to Charman et al.'s commentary on the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31 (2), 149-151.
References for publications related to M-CHAT Translations
Eldin, A.S., Habib, D., Noufal, A., Farrag, S., Bazaid, K., Al-Sharbati, M., Badr, H., Moussa, S., Essali, A., & Gaddour, N. (2008). Use of M-CHAT for a multinational screening of young children with autism in the Arab countries. International Review of Psychiatry, 20 (3), 281-289.
Inada, N., Kamio, Y., & Koyama, T. (2010). Developmental chronology of preverbal social behaviors in infancy using the M-CHAT: Baseline for early detection of atypical social development. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2009.12.003.
Inada, N., Koyama, T., Inokuchi, E., Kuroda, M., & Kamio, Y. (2010). Reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the Modified Checklist for autism in toddlers (M-CHAT), Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2010.04.016.
Perera, H., Wijewardena, K., & Aluthwelage, R. (2009). Screening of 18–24-Month-Old Children for Autism in a Semi-Urban Community in Sri Lanka. Journal of Tropical Pediatrics, 55(6):402-5.
point to show interest
peek-a-boo
pretend play
