Wl. Stone et al., EARLY RECOGNITION OF AUTISM - PARENTAL REPORTS VS CLINICAL OBSERVATION, Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine, 148(2), 1994, pp. 174-179
Objective: To determine which behavioral characteristics of autism are
apparent in early childhood and to examine the relative contributions
of clinical observation and parental reports to early identification
of autism. Design: Blinded comparison of behavioral data obtained thro
ugh parental reports and clinical observation. Setting: Child developm
ent referral center. Patients: Twenty-six children (23 boys and three
girls) younger than age 48 months with a clinical diagnosis of autism.
Selection Procedures: Consecutive sample. Interventions: None. Measur
ements and Results. Social interaction, communication, and activities
and interests were evaluated using standard diagnostic criteria for au
tism. Results suggested that deficits in the areas of social interacti
on, imitation, play, and non-verbal communication are more prominent t
han insistence on sameness and routines in young children with autism.
Also, parental reports and clinical observation appear to detect diff
erent aspects of abnormal behavior patterns in this sample. Conclusion
s: Improved awareness of the early signs of autism should help physici
ans recognize this disorder in a timely manner. Further research may i
dentify how observation of play and parental reports might be incorpor
ated efficiently into a physician's repertoire of developmental and be
havioral screening tools.