Pediatr. praxi 2019; 20(6): 330-334
Early Screening of Autism Spectrum Disorders in Pediatrician’s Offices
- 1 Institut sociálního zdraví, UP Olomouc
- 3 Institut výzkumu inkluzivního vzdělávání, Masarykova univerzita, Brno
About 1000–2000 children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are born in the Czech Republic every year. Early diagnostics is a critical factor in initiating an early intensive intervention, which has a significant positive impact on the child‘s prognosis as well as the quality of life of the child and its family. At the end of 2016, Decree no. 70/2012 Coll., On Preventive Examinations, was amended. The general preventive examination at 18 months of age now includes an examination for early signs of ASD. The Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) is a psychological questionnaire used in the examination. It contains 20 YES/ NO questions on the psychomotor development of the child to be answered by the parents. At the end of 2018, we conducted a survey with a sample of 210 Czech pediatricians to see if and how general practitioners for children and adolescents perform the screening in their offices. Three-quarters of the practitioners (74.7%) said they were carrying out an early screening of ASD. Most often, they use the M-CHAT screening tool or a parent interview. Those practitioners who perform screening of autism, do it for the first time mostly at the age of 18-24 months of the child. If the pediatrician detects symptoms of autism in a child, he most often refers parents to a child psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist.
Keywords: autism spectrum disorders, screening, experiences of pediatricians, early intervention
Published: December 1, 2019 Show citation
