Detecting autism spectrum disorders (ASD) when the affected person is still a baby allows early intervention that will improve the child’s quality of life, and for this reason scientists are studying new methods of diagnosing autism that are effective even in babies. Now, new research involving 13,511 children aged 11 to 42 months over five years has shown that the Social Attention and Communication Surveillance-Revised (SACS-R) and SACS-Preschool (SACS-PR) ) is highly accurate in identifying very young children with an ASD.
The study, which has been published in JAMA Open, showed that of infants and toddlers aged 12 to 24 months who were determined by the tool to have a “high probability” of an autism diagnosis, 83% were later diagnosed with autism. When used in conjunction with a SACS-Preschool screening, 96% percent of children on the autism spectrum were identified by their health screening at age 3.5 years.
Lead researcher Associate Professor Josephine Barbaro, from the Olga Tennison Autism Research Center (OTARC), La Trobe University, Australia, said the research points to an urgent need for SACS-R and SACS-Preschool to be implemented across Australia and around the world, as part of regular child health checks.
“Early diagnosis improves developmental outcomes, increases participation in education and allows children with ASD to understand their needs and identity from an early age”
“Parents are often told to wait and see when they raise concerns about their child’s development. This means that the average age of diagnosis is around four to five years, and opportunities for early support have been missed,” says Barbaro, who adds: “Putting this extremely effective tool in the hands of a primary health care professional trained, so that during their routine health checkups they’re also monitoring for autism, it makes a big difference for early diagnosis.”
Incorporate autism screening into child health checkups
As Barbaro explained, the early diagnosis of autism is key because it allows these children to have earlier access to interventions and support. “SACS-R is not only the most effective screening tool in the world, but unlike many, it can be used within the community in large populations, enabling early identification of very young children in all settings” . “Early diagnosis improves developmental outcomes, increases participation in education, and allows children to understand their needs and identity from an early age.”
The Social Attention and Communication Surveillance-Revised (SACS-R) and SACS-Preschool (SACS-PR) tools have been developed by Professor Barbaro over 15 years and are used to identify a group of characteristic behaviors in children with ASD from 11 months of age, including inconsistent or infrequent use of:
In Victoria, Australia, all children undergoing routine health checks at 12, 18 and 24 months are already monitored with the SACS-R tool, and the additional SACS-Preschool tool can be used in health check of the 3.5 years to improve the effectiveness of the identification process, although such training has not yet been funded in Victoria.
SACS-R is already in use statewide in Victoria and Tasmania, and training has also been completed in New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia. Health professionals in ten other countries around the world, including China, Singapore, Poland, Japan, New Zealand, Nepal and Bangladesh, have also been trained in the use of the tool.
Professor John Dewar AO, Vice Chancellor of La Trobe, has stated that the tool is “An extraordinary contribution from La Trobe autism experts, this new research is likely to lead to even more countries adopting the tool and incorporating screening programs into their health systems”, and that “the early identification of autism with this tool has already changed the lives of thousands of children and their families around the world”.
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