Loretta Thomaidis, Antigoni Choleva, Miltiades Kyprianou Second Department of Paediatrics, Developmental Assessment Unit, “P. & A. Kyriakou” Children’s Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Medicine, Athens, Greece A recent publication in your journal titled “ESSENCE-Q – a first clinical validation study of a new screening questionnaire for young children with suspected neurodevelopmental problems in south Japan” by Hatakenaka et al1 has caught our attention. The proposed instrument has produced promising results in the specific sample. Coupled with its simplicity, the screening instrument is indeed worthy of merit. Authors’ replyYuhei Hatakenaka,1,2 Elisabeth Fernell,2 Masahiko Sakaguchi,3 Hitoshi Ninomiya,3 Ichiro Fukunaga,1 Christopher Gillberg2 1Kochi Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre, Kochi Prefectural Medical and Welfare Centre, Kochi, Japan; 2Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden; 3Integrated Centre for Advanced Medical Technologies, Kochi University Medical School, Kochi, Japan We have read with interest and appreciate the comments made by Loretta Thomaidis, Antigoni Choleva and Miltiades Kyprianou. View the original paper by Hatakenaka and colleagues.