Researchers at Australia’s La Trobe University in Melbourne tested an early screening tool they had developed for autism in a five-year study of more than 13,500 children. They found that 83 per cent of children aged between 12 and 24 months, who were “flagged by the tool” were later diagnosed with autism.
Lead researcher Josephine Barbaro was quoted as saying, “Children diagnosed early demonstrated better verbal and overall cognition at school age, were more likely to attend mainstream school and required less ongoing support than children diagnosed later.”
Diagnosis tool translated into eight languages. The new tool, known as Social Attention and Communication Surveillance (SACS) has two elements: SACS-Revised and SACS-Preschool. Barbaro wrote that a meta-analysis of 13 studies found that current tests like M-CHAT (Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers) had a “pooled positive predictive value (or accuracy) of six per cent” when used in so-called ‘low risk’ community settings, lower than SACS-R’s 83 per cent accuracy.
The SACS tool has been translated into eight languages and used in 11 countries - Bangladesh, China, Italy, Japan, Nepal, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
Barbaro said, “Putting this extremely effective tool in the hands of a trained primary health professional, so that during their routine health checks they are also screening for autism, makes a huge difference to early diagnosis.”
