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Identification of Symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorders in the Second Year of Life at Day-Care Centres by Day-Care Staff: Step One in the Development of a Short Observation List

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Abstract

Early symptoms of ASD develop through the second year of life, making a stable ASD diagnosis possible at 24 months of age. However, in general, children with ASD have their diagnosis at an older age. This retrospective study, including 30 children with ASD and 30 control children aged 3–6 years, explored the possibility of developing a short observation list to be used in day care settings for children 12–24 months of age. From 73 symptoms selected from published screeners and observation tools, we were able to construct a list of six symptoms that retrospectively differentiated children with ASD from typically developing children at 12–24 months of age when recalled by day-care personnel.

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Funding

This study was funded by Oslo University Hospital, Regional resource center for autism, ADHD, Tourette’s syndrome and narcolepsy.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Regional Resource Centre for Autism, ADHD, Tourette’s Syndrome and Narcolepsy, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway

    Kenneth Larsen

  2. Section of Psychosomatics and CL-Child Psychiatry, Division of Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Department of Clinical Neurosciences for Children, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway

    Astrid Aasland & Trond H. Diseth

  3. Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Trond H. Diseth

Authors
  1. Kenneth Larsen
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  2. Astrid Aasland
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  3. Trond H. Diseth
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Contributions

KL, AA, THD contributed in preparing, writing and editing of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kenneth Larsen.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics, ref. no 2013/2101 and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.

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Larsen, K., Aasland, A. & Diseth, T.H. Identification of Symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorders in the Second Year of Life at Day-Care Centres by Day-Care Staff: Step One in the Development of a Short Observation List. J Autism Dev Disord 48, 2267–2277 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3489-x

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