Mutterings Of A Mindless Mommy

If you are anything like I was when I first thought my daughter might possibly be autistic then you have scoured the web for online autism screening tools.  I took most that I could find and even printed out a few to take to the psychologist.  Some professionals look down upon these tools and others are thankful for them.  Our psychologist was thankful for it as it gave us a good starting point for conversation regarding my concerns about my daughter and her behaviors.  I decided to compile a list of tools that I found; most of which I have used personally.  Some are free, some require a small fee.  I hope that you find this useful.

• Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) - This is a free screening tool.  You will need to score it with the M-CHAT Scoring Key.
• Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (CHAT) - This is a free screening tool that should be used at a child’s 18-month well child checkup. 
• Parents’ Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS) - There is a fee to use this service.  The M-CHAT is administered online for no additional charge at the completion of the PEDS questionnaire.
• Childbrain’s PDD Screening Questionnaire - This is a free screening tool.  Please make sure that you answer the questions based on the directions given as they give detailed information for answering each question. 

Again these are just screening tools and do not constitute a diagnosis.  Only a professional will be able to make an accurate diagnosis for your child, should one exist.  However I found these tools very useful in expanding my knowledge about my daughter and her behaviors and it also helped launch good dialogue between myself and professionals regarding her issues.  If you know of an online screening tool that I don’t have listed here, please leave a comment with the link and some basic information and I’ll add it.

A new study published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine focuses on enabling an earlier diagnosis of autism by determining a baby’s response to their name at the age of 12 months.  The researchers studied two groups of children; the first group was a control group and contained children who were not at risk for developing autism.  The second group was children who had an autistic person in their family.  Every single child in the control group were able to pass the test by responding to their name at twelve months; approximately 86% of the children in the second group passed.  These children were followed until their second birthday and 75% of them were diagnosed with developmental problems.  Of those children who went on to eventually receive an autism diagnosis, half failed the name test at twelve months. An abstract of the article can be viewed here: A Prospective Study of Response to Name in Infants at Risk for Autism

 In looking back it was right around that age, twelve months, that my daughter started responding to her name.  I’m not sure if it was right before or right after but it did seem much later than my son.  My daughter seemed to develop her motor milestones within the range of normal but her language was late to develop.  I listened to well-intentioned family and medical personal that she was the second child so would talk later and that everything was fine.  I’m still a bit annoyed about the wait and missing out on early intervention services but I know that the only direction to go from here is forward.  Having a diagnostic tool like this might have been beneficial in my daughter’s case.  Of course this name test isn’t an end-all be-all for diagnosis but just another tool, one of many, that are being discovered to help aide in an early diagnosis of autism.