Screening for Autism Spectrum Disorders in Flemish Day-Care Centres with the Checklist for Early Signs of Developmental Disorders

• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-010-0984-0
• Publication Date: 2010-03-02T15:09:21Z
• Authors: Mieke Dereu; Petra Warreyn; Ruth Raymaekers; Mieke Meirsschaut; Griet Pattyn; Inge Schietecatte; Herbert Roeyers
• Keywords: Flemish; Pervasive developmental disorder

A new screening instrument for ASD was developed that can be filled out by child care workers: the Checklist for Early Signs of Developmental Disorders (CESDD). The predictive validity of the CESDD was evaluated in a population of 6,808 children between 3 and 39 months attending day-care centres in Flanders. The CESDD had a sensitivity of .80 and a specificity of .94. Based on the screening procedure used in this study, 41 children were diagnosed with ASD or got a working diagnosis of ASD. Thus, including child care workers' report on signs of ASD in screening procedures can help to identify cases of ASD at a young age.