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The Importance of Language Delays as an Early Indicator of Subsequent ASD Diagnosis in Public Healthcare Settings

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Abstract

Previous studies have reported that ASD children with more severe symptoms are diagnosed earlier. However, previous studies in community settings have mostly relied on retrospective parental reports without the use of quantitative standardized test scores. Here, we evaluated the association of language, cognitive, and ASD severity standardized scores with the age of diagnosis in 1-6-year-old children diagnosed in a public healthcare setting. The results revealed that language scores were the strongest variable associated with the age of diagnosis, explaining ~ 30% of the variability across children. Indeed, all children diagnosed before 30-months of age exhibited moderate-to-severe language delays. These results further substantiate the prominence of language delay as a highly visible symptom associated with earlier ASD diagnosis in community clinical settings.

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Acknowledgements

The Azrieli National Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopment Research is funded by a grant from the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology and the Azrieli Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology Department, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel

    Tanya Nitzan, Michal Ilan & Ilan Dinstein

  2. Azrieli National Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopment Research, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel

    Tanya Nitzan, Michal Ilan, Michal Faroy, Analya Michaelovski, Idan Menashe, Gal Meiri & Ilan Dinstein

  3. Seymour Fox School of Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Judah Koller

  4. Pre-School Psychiatry Unit, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer Sheva, Israel

    Michal Ilan, Michal Faroy & Gal Meiri

  5. Zusman Child Development Center, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer Sheva, Israel

    Analya Michaelovski

  6. Public Health Department, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel

    Idan Menashe

  7. Cognitive and Brain Sciences Department, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel

    Ilan Dinstein

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  1. Tanya Nitzan
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Nitzan, T., Koller, J., Ilan, M. et al. The Importance of Language Delays as an Early Indicator of Subsequent ASD Diagnosis in Public Healthcare Settings. J Autism Dev Disord 53, 4535–4544 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05757-y

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