Symptom presentations and classification of autism spectrum disorder in early childhood: application to the diagnostic classification of mental health and developmental disorders of infancy and early childhood (dc:0 –5)

ABSTRACT Over the past 5 years, a great deal of information about the early course of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has emerged from longitudinal prospective studies of infants at high risk for developing ASD based on a previously diagnosed older sibling. The current article describes early ASD symptom presentations and outlines the rationale for defining a new disorder, Early Atypical Autism Spectrum Disorder (EA‐ASD) to accompany ASD in the new revision of the ZERO TO THREE Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood (DC:0–5) (in press) alternative diagnostic classification manual. EA‐ASD is designed to identify children who are 9 to 36 months of age presenting with a minimum of (a) two social‐communication symptoms and (b) one repetitive and restricted behavior symptom as well as (c) evidence of impairment, with the intention of providing these children with appropriately tailored services and improving the likelihood of optimizing their development. RESUMEN En los pasados cinco años, mucha información acerca del temprano curso del trastorno del espectro del autismo (ASD) ha surgido como parte de prospectivos estudios longitudinales de infantes bajo riesgo de desarrollar ASD con base en la previa diagnosis de un hermano mayor. El presente estudio describe las tempranas apariciones de síntomas de ASD y presenta el razonamiento para definir un nuevo trastorno, el Temprano Atípico Trastorno del Espectro d...
Source: Infant Mental Health Journal - Category: Child Development Authors: Tags: CLINICAL PERSPECTIVES Source Type: research