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.