[Relations between the Autistic Behavior Checklist (ABC) and the functional communicative profile].
BACKGROUND
language and communication disorders are proposed as one of the three fundamental criteria for the description or diagnosis of pervasive developmental disorders (PDD), along with social disabilities and a narrow focus of interest. This way, the determination of simple procedures that can be used by health and education professionals to identify the persons that need specialized services is essential. The Autistic Behavior Checklist (ABC) is being used in several studies because it allows simple application and may be based on filmed behavior samples, interviews with parents or therapists. Its' results, on the other side, had been tested for a few decades and been shown reliable.


OBJECTIVE
the general aim of this study is to verify the possibility that the assessment of the relation between communicative profile and the ABC score contributes to the diagnostic process of persons with disorders of the autistic spectrum.


METHODS
subjects were 117 children and adolescents with ages between 2 and 16 years attending language therapy.


RESULTS
were statistically analyzed and indicated that there are negative correlations between the ABC scores and communicative interaction and complexity. The small amount of correlations between language sub-scale and the other data suggest that there is a dissociation of the description provided by the ABC and the criteria proposed by the DSM-IV and the ICD-10 to the diagnosis of autism.


CONCLUSIONS
the search for objective criteria to determine subgroups of the autistic spectrum remains a challenge.
Fernandes
Fernanda Dreux Miranda
FD
Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo. fernandadreux@usp.br
Miilher
Liliane Perroud
LP
D000293:Adolescent; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003142:Communication; D003147:Communication Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011581:Psychological Tests; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric