Autism spectrum disorder

With increasing awareness and diagnosis of autism, there has also been an increase in misinformation regarding autism. The goal of today's episode is to provide a brief overview on autism and provide evidenced based information to better inform listeners!

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This episode was written by pediatricians Tammy Yau and Lidia Park with content support from Kathleen Angkustsiri (UC Davis developmental and behavioral pediatric specialist). Pediatricians Tammy and Lidia take full responsibility for any errors or misinformation.

Key Points:

• Autism diagnostic criteria have changed to increase detection of milder cases. Asperger's is included in autism.
• Per the DSM-5, autism is a condition with impairments in social communication (social and emotional reciprocity, non-verbal communication, and relationships) and restrictive and repetitive behaviors.
• Autism diagnosis also requires 2 out of 4 restrictive or repetitive behaviors: 1. Restrictive or repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities 2. Insistence of sameness, inflexible adherence to routines, ritualized patterns 3. Highly restricted, fixated interest abnormal in intensity or focus. 4. Hyper or hyporeactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of the environment
• Autism can present as regression of social and/or language skills.
• The Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers – Revised with Follow-up (MCHAT-R/F) is the most widely known and validated screening tool for autism for ages 16-30 months. A score of 8 or more is high risk for autism

Sources:

• Pediatrics (2020) 145 (1): e20193447. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2019-3447