Developing a cultural formulation during a diagnostic assessment with a young child is the foundation for work with diverse families. It requires critical reflection on the part of the clinician about the socio-cultural, historical, and political influences and consequently aspects of privilege and oppression in their own lives and professional…

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are well-known for engagement in challenging behaviors. Unfortunately, due to its absence as a criterion for diagnosis in the "DSM-IV-TR", little attention has been paid to the endorsement rates of such behaviors. However, a recently developed measure to assist in the diagnosis of infants and toddlers…

Background: The Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) is a screening instrument with established validity against the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) in children aged 4 years and older. Indices of diagnostic accuracy have been shown to be strong in school-aged samples; however, relatively little is known about the performance of the…

The authors assessed the reliability of the Autism Diagnostic Interview (ADI-R). Seven Clinical Examiners evaluated a three and one half year old female toddler suspected of being on the Autism Spectrum. Examiners showed agreement levels of 94-96% across all items, with weighted kappa (K[subscript w]) between 0.80 and 0.88. They were in 100%…

Early identification of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is now considered best practice in the field of developmental disabilities. Despite calls by national pediatric organizations and others for routine screening in young children, such recommendations have been hard to implement in practice. One of the major unresolved problems is the need for…

Symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) begin to manifest during the first 2 years; there is limited evidence regarding type and timing of symptom onset. We examined factors related to parental age of recognition (AOR) of early abnormalities and the association between AOR and diagnosis and levels of functioning at 2 and 4 years in 75 toddlers…

This study compared behavioral presentation of toddlers with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) and toddlers with global developmental delay (DD) or developmental language disorder (DLD) who display some characteristics of ASD using the diagnostic algorithm items from the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Generic (ADOS), the Childhood Autism…

This study developed and evaluated a model of good practice linking diagnosis and intervention in young children with autism. Ten toddlers with autism underwent an intervention involving home visits, modeling, workshops and written information with parents as 'therapists' in naturally occurring situations. Within 18 months all children made…

Discusses early detection of hearing impairment in Japan with particular reference to the system used in Tokushima Prefecture. Suggests that a required screening of all children at 18 months of age resulted in 2 developments: (1) all the hard-of-hearing children were identified; and (2) public health nurses became more alert to hearing impairment…

The goal of this review of the research literature is to discuss approaches to the early detection of autism in infancy. Early detection would enable diagnoses to be made before 18 months of age rather than at 24-30 months, the age where diagnoses start to be made now. After summarizing the criteria for a deficit to be considered "core" to the…

This article reports on DISCOVERY, a conceptual model for a clinical system of early detection and early intervention in cases of autism that has been implemented in Yokohama, Japan. Longitudinal data from 49 children who participated in a program during 1987-1990 indicate 32 were still being followed in 1999. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)