title: How useful are screening instruments for toddlers to predict outcome at age 4? General development, language skills, and symptom severity in children with a false positive screen for autism spectrum disorder.
abstract: Screening instruments for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often generate many false positives. It is argued that these children may have other developmental difficulties and are also in need of thorough assessment and early intervention. The current study looked at the predictive validity of positive screens on the Checklist for Early Signs of Developmental Disorders (CESDD) and the Early Screening of Autistic Traits questionnaire (ESAT) at age 2 towards language, cognitive function, and symptom severity at age 4. Children who screened positive on the ESAT scored lower for both language and cognitive functioning at age 4 compared with children who screened negative on the ESAT. Also, the more signs of ASD that were recognized on the CESDD or ESAT, the lower the scores for language and cognitive functioning at age 4. False positive screens could be differentiated from true positive screens on the CESDD only in symptom severity score on the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). It seems that early screeners for ASD also detect children with other developmental disorders and that diagnostic instruments such as the ADOS are warranted to differentiate between children with ASD and other developmental problems.
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: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Roeyers
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Raymaekers
authors.forename: Mieke
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meirsschaut
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Warreyn
mesh_terms: D057189:Checklist; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D007805:Language Development Disorders; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000592:standards*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012720:Severity of Illness Index