Parental Concerns of Early Development in Children with Autism and Related Disorders

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Abstract
Parents of consecutively referred children with autism (39), Asperger syndrome (13), atypical autism (15), learning disability (20) and semantic-pragmatic disorder (14) completed a questionnaire on concerns regarding their child's development between 12 and 18 months. The early development questionnaire included scales of communication and language, social relationships and play behaviour. The autism and the learning disability groups differed significantly on most items. The diagnosis of autism was best predicted by play behaviour items and lack of referential gestures. Factor analysis within the autism group identified factors involving items from different scales, such as lack of physical contact, social communication and imitative skills. Children with the diagnosis of semantic-pragmatic disorders had relatively high rates of early difficulties in social development. Implications for the screening and detection of autism and related disorders in early life and for the training of professionals involved are discussed.