A brand new checklist that takes five minutes to go though can be used by parents to help doctors screen their infants for signs of autism. This five minute screen can be used on children who are as young as one year of age. This new tool gets it right about 75% of the time.
In order to test out this new diagnostic tool, 137 pediatricians from San Diego County, California, were asked to participate, and use it. The doctors used the checklist as part of the 12 month well baby checkups that all babies are recommended to have. The doctors asked parents to answer the twenty four questions that were on the checklist. The answers were used to help the doctors determine if the baby was on the autism spectrum or if the baby had other kinds of developmental delays.
A total of 10,479 infants were screened by doctors. There were 1,318 children who failed. Out of that group, 184 were further evaluated for autism, autism spectrum disorder, language delays, and other developmental delays.
Researchers tracked these children, as well as 41 of the children who passed the screening. Later, 32 of the children did end up with an official diagnosis of autism or autism spectrum disorder. 46 received a false-positive diagnosis of autism. There were 56 children who were later diagnosed as having a learning disability of some kind. The five minute screening got it right 75% of the time, or for three of every four children who were tested.
What kinds of questions are on the checklist? They include questions about the child’s emotions, eye gaze, communication, gestures, and other behaviors. One question was: Does your child wave to greet people? Another question asked: Does your child smile or laugh while looking at you? These are only a few of the questions on the screening.
The screening is called the CSBS DP IT checklist, which stands for Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales Developmental Profile Infant- Toddler. The screening can be used to detect signs of autism as well as other developmental delays. It is very important that doctors who use this screening tool have access to a center that the doctor can refer patients to for further evaluation.
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