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Atypical gaze processing has been reported in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Here we explored how infants at risk for ASD respond behaviorally to others' direct gaze. We assessed 10-month-olds with a sibling with ASD (high risk group; n = 61) and a control group (n = 18) during interaction with an adult. Eye-tracking revealed less looking at the adult in the high risk group during 300-1000 ms after the adult initiated direct gaze: a short alteration that is likely to go unnoticed by the naked eye. Data aggregated over longer segments (the traditional eye-tracking approach) showed no group differences. Although findings are limited by lack of outcome data, they are in line with theories linking atypical eye processing to the emergence of ASD.

The possible effect of the DSM-5 impairment criterion on diagnosing autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in young children was examined in 127 children aged 20-47 months with a DSM-IV-TR clinical consensus diagnosis of ASD. The composite score of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS) served as a proxy for the DSM-5 impairment criterion. When applying a "mild" level of impairment (cutoff: 1 SD below the mean on the VABS), 88% of the cases fulfilled the impairment criterion. Sixty-nine percent fulfilled the impairment criterion at a "moderate" level (1.5 SDs) and 33% at a "severe" level (2 SDs). Findings indicate that a strict application of the new DSM-5 impairment criterion might compromise early diagnosis of ASD.

The current study aimed to investigate the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) algorithms for toddlers and young preschoolers (Kim and Lord, "J Autism Dev Disord" 42(1):82-93, 2012) in a non-US sample from ten sites in nine countries (n = 1,104). The construct validity indicated a good fit of the algorithms. The diagnostic validity was lower, with satisfactorily high specificities but moderate sensitivities. Young children with clinical ASD and lower language ability were largely in the mild-to-moderate or moderate-to-severe concern ranges of the ADI-R, nearly half of the older and phrase speech ASD-group fell into the little-to-no concern range. Although broadly the findings support the toddler algorithms, further work is required to understand why they might have different properties in different samples to further inform research and clinical use.

The diagnostic validity of the new research algorithms of the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised and the revised algorithms of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule was examined in a clinical sample of children aged 18-47 months. Validity was determined for each instrument separately and their combination against a clinical consensus diagnosis. A total of N = 268 children (n = 171 with autism spectrum disorder) were assessed. The new Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised algorithms (research cutoff) gave excellent specificities (91%-96%) but low sensitivities (44%-52%). Applying adjusted cutoffs (lower than recommended based on receiver operating characteristics) yielded a better balance between sensitivity (77%-82%) and specificity (60%-62%). Findings for the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule were consistent with previous studies showing high sensitivity (94%-100%) and alongside lower specificity (52%-76%) when using the autism spectrum cutoff, but better balanced sensitivity (81%-94%) and specificity (81%-83%) when using the autism cutoff. A combination of both the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (with adjusted cutoff) and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (autism spectrum cutoff) yielded balanced sensitivity (77%-80%) and specificity (87%-90%). Results favor a combined usage of the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule in young children with unclear developmental problems, including suspicion of autism spectrum disorder. Evaluated separately, the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (cutoff for autism) provides a better diagnostic accuracy than the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised.

The current paper reports on the outcome of an ongoing action research project at a school for higher-functioning students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Sweden. The overall aim of the study was to develop and evaluate a questionnaire that captures social and individual aspects of classroom learning suitable for use with students with ASD. Interview data is presented on the perceived utility of the questionnaire for understanding and planning classroom instruction for the children with ASD through the eyes of the students' teachers and their parents, as assessed during an Individual Education Plan meeting. Further, teacher ratings obtained by means of the instrument were found to differentiate a group of students with ASD (n = 10) from a group of typically developing children matched with regard to grade year, word reading ability and receptive vocabulary (n = 10). Implications and future directions are discussed, as are limitations of this pilot study. (Contains 2 tables, 1 figure and 1 note.)

The possible effect of the DSM-5 impairment criterion on diagnosing autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in young children was examined in 127 children aged 20-47 months with a DSM-IV-TR clinical consensus diagnosis of ASD. The composite score of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS) served as a proxy for the DSM-5 impairment criterion. When applying a mild level of impairment (cutoff: 1 SD below the mean on the VABS), 88 % of the cases fulfilled the impairment criterion. Sixty-nine percent fulfilled the impairment criterion at a moderate level (1.5 SDs) and 33 % at a severe level (2 SDs). Findings indicate that a strict application of the new DSM-5 impairment criterion might compromise early diagnosis of ASD., Author(s): Eric Zander[sup.1] [sup.2] , Sven Bolte[sup.1] [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) Pediatric Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Children's and Women's Health, Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND), Karolinska Institutet, Gävlegatan 22B, 113 [...]

WISC-III (Wechsler, 1991) index score profiles and their characteristics were examined with traditional statistics in a large Swedish sample consisting of children with autistic disorder (n = 85), Asperger's disorder (n = 341), or pervasive developmental disorders not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS; n = 94). There was a clear and significant difference in level between children with Asperger's disorder, who performed in the average range according to the Swedish standardization, and children with either autistic disorder or PDD-NOS, who performed below the average range (almost 2 standard deviations below the mean), but few other differences between the diagnostic groups were found. The variation in this sample, compared with the Swedish standardization, was generally larger in regard to the size of standard deviations and to the proportion of individuals who exhibited significant differences between indices. The result implied that a WISC-III profile could not be used to discriminate between the different PDDs. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)

The current study aimed to investigate the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) algorithms for toddlers and young preschoolers (Kim and Lord, J Autism Dev Disord 42(1):82-93, 2012 (See CR19)) in a non-US sample from ten sites in nine countries (n = 1,104). The construct validity indicated a good fit of the algorithms. The diagnostic validity was lower, with satisfactorily high specificities but moderate sensitivities. Young children with clinical ASD and lower language ability were largely in the mild-to-moderate or moderate-to-severe concern ranges of the ADI-R, nearly half of the older and phrase speech ASD-group fell into the little-to-no concern range. Although broadly the findings support the toddler algorithms, further work is required to understand why they might have different properties in different samples to further inform research and clinical use., Author(s): Annelies de Bildt[sup.1] [sup.2] , Sjoerd Sytema[sup.1] , Eric Zander[sup.3] [sup.4] , Sven Bolte[sup.3] [sup.4] , Harald Sturm[sup.3] [sup.4] , Nurit Yirmiya[sup.5] , Maya Yaari[sup.5] , Tony Charman[sup.6] , [...]

Background An individual's subjective perception of well-being is increasingly recognized as an essential complement to clinical symptomatology and functional impairment in children's mental health. Measurement of quality of life (QoL) has the potential to give due weight to the child's perspective. Scope and methodology Our aim was to critically review the current evidence on how childhood mental disorders affect QoL. First, the major challenges in this research field are outlined. Then we present a systematic review of QoL in children and adolescents aged 0-18 years formally diagnosed with a mental and behavioural disorder, as compared to healthy or typically developing children or children with other health conditions. Finally, we discuss limitations of the current evidence base and future directions based on the results of the systematic review and other relevant literature. Findings and conclusions The systematic review identified 41 eligible studies. All were published after the year 2000 and 21 originated in Europe. The majority examined QoL in neurodevelopmental disorders, including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder ( k = 17), autism spectrum disorder ( k = 6), motor disorders ( k = 5) and intellectual disability ( k = 4). Despite substantial heterogeneity, studies demonstrate that self-reported global QoL is significantly reduced compared to typical/healthy controls across several disorders and QoL dimensions. Parents' ratings were on average substantially lower, casting doubt on the validity of proxy-report. Studies for large diagnostic groups such as depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, (early onset) schizophrenia and eating disorders are largely lacking. We conclude that representative, well-characterized normative and clinical samples as well as longitudinal and qualitative designs are needed to further clarify the construct of QoL, to derive measures of high ecological validity, and to examine how QoL fluctuates over time and is attributable to specific conditions or contextual factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study aimed to investigate the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) algorithms for toddlers and young preschoolers (Kim and Lord, J Autism Dev Disord 42(1):82-93, ) in a non-US sample from ten sites in nine countries (n = 1,104). The construct validity indicated a good fit of the algorithms. The diagnostic validity was lower, with satisfactorily high specificities but moderate sensitivities. Young children with clinical ASD and lower language ability were largely in the mild-to-moderate or moderate-to-severe concern ranges of the ADI-R, nearly half of the older and phrase speech ASD-group fell into the little-to-no concern range. Although broadly the findings support the toddler algorithms, further work is required to understand why they might have different properties in different samples to further inform research and clinical use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The Conners Rating Scales are widely used in research and clinical practice for measuring attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and associated problem behaviors, but country-specific norms are seldom collected. The current study presents the standardization of the Swedish Conners 3 ® Rating Scales. In addition, we compared the Swedish norms to those collected in the U.S. and Germany., Material and Methods: The study included altogether 3496 ratings of children and adolescents aged 6-18 years from population-based samples., Results: The scores obtained for the Swedish Conners 3 ® showed satisfactory to excellent internal consistency for most subscales and excellent test-retest reliability. Across-informant correlations were modest. Cross-country comparisons revealed that aggression symptoms rated by teachers and ADHD symptoms rated by parents differed between Sweden, Germany and the U.S. Executive functioning deficits also varied as a function of rater and country, with German and Swedish teachers reporting increasing behavior problems with age, whereas a decrease was observed in the U.S. For some subscales, the observed cross-cultural differences were large enough for a child to be classified as being within the normal range (t-score <60) in one country and within the clinical range (t-score > 70) in another country., Conclusion: The present study shows that the Swedish adaptation of the Conners 3 ® provides consistent and reproducible scores. However, across-informant ratings were only modest and significant cross-cultural differences in scoring were observed. This emphasizes the need for multi-informant assessment as well as for national norms for rating instruments commonly used within child and adolescent psychiatry research and clinical settings.