Autism vs Ignorance

Today I want to share the latest assessment and diagnostic tools, plus a simple screening tool.

But before I do that, I’d like to thank two of my readers for clarifying the fragile x chromosome I mentioned in yesterday’s post. I attributed the fragile X to aging parents, specifically fathers, but fortunately, SallyN and FXSmom gave me some valuable information that expands beyond the resources that I had utilized. In the interest of accurate information, I’d like to share two sites that they referred to.

“If you want the facts on Fragile X, go to fraxa.org or fragileX.org”

In addition to fragile x syndrome as one cause, you may also want to do further study of tuberous sclerosis, congenital rubella syndrome, and Angelman syndrome.

I apologize for implying that what I said about fragile x and aging parents was the ONLY theory. I certainly don’t want to spread more misinformation about this already misunderstood disorder.

Assessing for Autism

Continuing with the series, I’d like to talk today about assessing for autism, and how important it is to identify autism early to start intervention ASAP.

I mentioned, early in the series, that parents often are the first to suspect that there is a problem. Generally the parental assessment process occurs over a period of time, as parents harbor doubts about the developmental skills of their child. Usually parents confer with friends and family members before bringing the subject up with an authority figure, such as their pediatrician, teacher, day care person, as they try to determine whether their child’s development rate is within normal guidelines.

Once parents have expressed concern, there is a simple six-item screening tool, called the M-CHAT. With M-CHAT, parents are asked the following yes or no questions:

• 1. Does your child ever use his/her index finger to point, to indicate interest in something?




• 2. Does your child respond to his/her name when you call?




• 3. Does your child take an interest in other children?




• 4. Does your child ever bring objects over to you (the parent) to show you something?




• 5. If you point to a toy across the room, does your child look at it?




• 6. Does your child imitate you? For example, if you make a face, will your child imitate it?

“NO” to two or more items would need further evaluation by someone who is qualified to do a more detailed assessment. This scoring on M-CHAT may not mean autism, but it does identify an unusual development process and should receive professional follow-up with a referral to a developmental pediatrician, child psychologist or developmental specialist.

Diagnostic Clarification Tools for Autism

When a child is referred for further testing, the specialist will detail a much more in-depth picture of the child’s history, behaviors, etc.

Three of the most commonly used tools are:

• The Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) which groups symptoms into 15 different areas and results in a range of scores to indicate the likelihood of autism.




• The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), used to define behaviors, cognitive ability, language, communication level, and adaptive functioning.




• The Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) is a structured interview to elicit (draw out or evoke) symptoms and behaviors.

When a diagnosis of autism is finally determined, the next step is to determine the most appropriate INTVERVENTION PLAN.

In my next post, I’ll be discussing some of the famous people in history who were autistic. I think you’ll be surprised at some of the names.

See you next time!
Brennan

The Kingsland Plan

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