title: Screening for autism spectrum disorders in Flemish day-care centres with the checklist for early signs of developmental disorders.
abstract: A new screening instrument for ASD was developed that can be filled out by child care workers: the Checklist for Early Signs of Developmental Disorders (CESDD). The predictive validity of the CESDD was evaluated in a population of 6,808 children between 3 and 39 months attending day-care centres in Flanders. The CESDD had a sensitivity of .80 and a specificity of .94. Based on the screening procedure used in this study, 41 children were diagnosed with ASD or got a working diagnosis of ASD. Thus, including child care workers' report on signs of ASD in screening procedures can help to identify cases of ASD at a young age.
authors.affiliation: Research Group Developmental Disorders, Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium. mieke.dereu@ugent.be
authors.forename: Mieke
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dereu
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Warreyn
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Raymaekers
authors.forename: Mieke
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meirsschaut
authors.forename: Griet
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pattyn
authors.forename: Inge
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Schietecatte
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Roeyers
mesh_terms: D001530:Belgium; D057189:Checklist; D002656:Child Day Care Centers; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening; D011159:Population Surveillance