ACER Press has published a newly developed Autism detection tool, The Autism Detection in Early Childhood or ADEC has been developed by Flinders University psychologist Associate Professor Robyn Young and her team.

Once diagnosed, research has shown that children are most responsive to early intervention, particularly before the age of three. Early diagnosis could lead to better outcomes for children and major savings in health costs, estimated to be between $4.5 and $7.2 billion annually in Australia alone.

Following a research breakthrough by Associate Professor Young’s team children as young as 18 months can be diagnosed using ADEC.

Associate Professor Young and her team have discovered it’s the things a young child doesn’t do that often provide the clues to the presence of Autism. Because early symptoms of Autism are often characterised by an absence of normal behavioural development, rather than the presence of unusual behaviour, diagnosis and early intervention can be crucially delayed.

“Many of the classic behaviours associated with AD, such as delayed or repetitive non-communicative speech, and obsessive interests, develop or become more apparent later in life,” Professor Young said.

“Therefore, unless one is aware of when skills should develop and how they should develop; their absence may not cause concern.  It is only when the secondary behaviours develop, and the more obvious milestones of speech and social play do not develop, that the child may receive more serious attention.”

By that time, many of the early behaviours are no longer evident, complicating the clinical picture.

The ADEC describes 16 specific behaviours. If a child fails to demonstrate these behaviours by 18 months to two years of age it may lead to consideration of an early diagnosis of Autism.

The relationship between these behaviours and AD are supported empirically, and the tool has now, with support from Flinders Technologies, been published through the Australian Council of Educational Research (ACER).

There has already been considerable international interest in ADEC and its potential benefits: Mexico plans to use a modified Spanish version as part of a national screening tool and a Chinese version of the tool is also undergoing research in Malaysia and China.

Flinders University research is being extended to identify signs of the disorder even earlier, possibly from birth.

PhD student Danielle Robson is recruiting typically developing newborns and those at risk of developing Autism due to hereditability factors to be involved in a longitudinal study of infant development.

The study will follow younger siblings of children already diagnosed with the disorder over 18 months to investigate whether there are early abnormalities in their development that distinguishes them from typically developing children.

Associate Professor Young said she hopes that tools such as ADEC will enable professionals to become familiar with the early presentation of the disorder.

More information about ADEC is available from ACER Press online or by phone on 1800 338 402  or (03) 9277 5447.   

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