Penney Ashley M, Greenson Jessica, Schwartz Ilene S, Estes Annette Mercer
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.
Front Psychiatry. 2022 Feb 17;13:784580. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.784580. eCollection 2022.
It is well-documented that autism can be reliably diagnosed by age two and that early signs emerge most often between 18 and 24 months. However, despite the increased awareness and focus on early diagnosis, the average age of diagnosis is over 4 years old; even later for Black children and those who are Medicaid-eligible. In this paper, we will propose a framework for accurate and accelerated autism diagnosis for children before age three. The proposed framework emphasizes a collaborative diagnostic process, which relies heavily on Birth to Three provider knowledge and expertise. Considerations for next steps are presented. This approach could increase access to diagnosis of young children soon after first signs of autism emerge.
有充分的文献记载，自闭症在两岁时就能得到可靠诊断，且早期迹象大多出现在18至24个月之间。然而，尽管对早期诊断的认识有所提高且关注度不断增加，但平均诊断年龄仍超过4岁；黑人儿童以及符合医疗补助条件的儿童的诊断年龄甚至更晚。在本文中，我们将提出一个针对三岁以下儿童进行准确且加速自闭症诊断的框架。所提出的框架强调协作诊断过程，这在很大程度上依赖于从出生到三岁阶段的医疗服务提供者的知识和专业技能。文中还给出了后续步骤的考量因素。这种方法可以在自闭症最初迹象出现后不久，增加幼儿获得诊断的机会。
