Screening young children for autism and other social-communication disorders.

Autism is a severe, multifaceted disorder of childhood that affects a large number of young children, causing social and communication disorders. Identification at a young age allows early treatment and the possibility of an improved outcome for these children and their families. This article reviews three screening instruments (Table 1): The Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (CHAT), the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT), and the Infant/Toddler Checklist of Communication and Language Development (CHECKLIST). These instruments may be used in the primary caregiver's office as an initial attempt to identify children who should be further examined for autism and other social-communication disorders.