title: Early developmental delay in children with autism: A study from a developing country.
abstract: Early diagnosis is appropriate and important for developmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder. In many less developed countries, unfortunately, diagnosis of this disorder is delayed. The aim of the present study is to determine whether this disorder can be screened using simple strategies such as comparison of the age of acquisition of motor skills. For this purpose, 124 children with autism were chosen to enter the study, and their parents were asked to retrospectively specify the age of achieving milestones of sitting without support, standing alone and walking alone. Information obtained from the parents was compared with World Health Organization standards. Results indicate that participants (male and female) have significantly delayed age of acquisition of all three skills. Based on this result, it can be suggested that existing standards, as a simple means with low cost and easy availability, can be used for early screening of the disease at a younger age so that treatment can be provided more quickly.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Elahe
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Arabameri
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad 9177948974, Khorasan E Razavi, Iran. Electronic address: m.saber.s@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Mohammad Saber
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Sotoodeh
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D057210:Delayed Diagnosis; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology; D016138:Walking
keywords: Milestones; Motor development; Pervasive developmental disorder; Screening