Efficacy of the ADEC in Identifying Autism Spectrum Disorder in Clinically Referred Toddlers in the US

J Autism Dev Disord. 2015 Aug;45(8):2337-48. doi: 10.1007/s10803-015-2398-5.

Abstract

The Autism Detection in Early Childhood (ADEC) is a brief, play-based screening tool for the assessment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children aged 12-36 months. We examined the psychometric properties of the ADEC in a clinical sample of toddlers (n = 114) referred to a US pediatric hospital for assessment due to concerns of developmental delay or ASD. The ADEC (cutoff = 11) returned good sensitivity (.93-.94) but poorer specificity (.62-.64) for best estimate clinical diagnosis of ASD, and compared favorably with the ADOS-2. Internal consistency was acceptable, α = .80, and inter-rater reliability was high, ICC = .95. Results support the use of the ADEC as a clinical screen for ASD.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Validation Study

MeSH terms

  • Autism Spectrum Disorder / diagnosis*
  • Autism Spectrum Disorder / psychology
  • Autistic Disorder / diagnosis
  • Child, Preschool
  • Developmental Disabilities / diagnosis
  • Developmental Disabilities / psychology
  • Early Diagnosis
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Male
  • Mass Screening*
  • Play and Playthings*
  • Psychometrics / statistics & numerical data
  • Referral and Consultation*
  • Reproducibility of Results