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Journal article
Initial diagnostic impressions of trainees during autism evaluations: High specificity but low sensitivity
Autism research
21 Apr 2023
PMID: 37084079
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Reducing the age of first autism diagnosis facilitates access to critical early intervention services. A current "waitlist crisis" for autism diagnostic evaluation thus demands that we consider novel use of available clinical resources. Previous work has found that expert autism clinicians can identify autism in young children with high specificity after only a brief observation; rapid identification by non-experts remains untested. In the current study, 252 children ages 12-53 months presented for a comprehensive autism diagnostic evaluation. We found that junior clinicians in training to become autism specialists (n = 29) accurately determined whether or not a young child would be diagnosed with autism in the first five minutes of the clinic visit in 75% of cases. Specificity of brief observations was high (0.92), suggesting that brief observations may be an effective tool for triaging young children toward autism-specific interventions. In contrast, the lower negative predictive value (0.71) of brief observations, suggest that they should not be used to rule out autism. When trainees expressed more confidence in their initial impression, their impression was more likely to match the final diagnosis. These findings add to a body of literature showing that clinical observations of suspected autism should be taken seriously, but lack of clinician concern should not be used to rule out autism or overrule other indicators of likely autism, such as parent concern or a positive screening result.
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Details
- Title
- Initial diagnostic impressions of trainees during autism evaluations: High specificity but low sensitivity
- Creators
- Ashley de Marchena - Drexel UniversityAndrea Trubanova Wieckowski - Drexel UniversityYasemin Algur - Drexel UniversityLashae N Williams - Drexel UniversitySherira Fernandes - Drexel UniversityRebecca P Thomas - University of ConnecticutLeslie A McClure - Drexel UniversitySarah Dufek - University of California, DavisDeborah Fein - University of ConnecticutAubyn C Stahmer - University of California, DavisDiana L Robins - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- Autism research
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Number of pages
- 7
- Grant note
- R01MH115715 / National Institute Of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health R01HD039961 / Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Epidemiology and Biostatistics; A.J. Drexel Autism Institute
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000971555000001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85153526558
- Other Identifier
- 991020422331904721
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InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Behavioral Sciences
- Psychology, Developmental