Magdalena Janus1, Emma Mauti2, Matt Horner1, Eric Duku1, Ayesha Siddiqua1,3, Scott Davies4. 1. Offord Centre for Child Studies, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. 2. Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 3. Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. 4. Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Abstract
Monitoring behavior patterns that may be specific to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at a population level has the potential to improve the allocation of intervention strategies and reduction of the burden of the disease. In Ontario, Canada, developmental data are regularly collected for all kindergarten children with the Early Development Instrument (EDI), a teacher-completed questionnaire that provides information on children's status in five domains: physical, social, emotional, language/cognitive, and communication/general knowledge. Our main research questions are: (a) are there differences in kindergarten EDI domain scores between children who are diagnosed with ASD by Grade 3 and those who develop typically or have other disabilities?; (b) do these differences show a different pattern in relation to an early (by kindergarten) or late (by Grade 3) diagnosis?; and (c) are there specific subdomains on the EDI that demonstrate a consistent pattern of differences? EDI domain and subdomain scores were compared among groups using multivariate analysis of variance controlling for age, gender, EDI year, and EDI year by age interaction. Children with ASD, regardless of timing of identification, had significantly lower scores on all domains of the EDI than typically developing children. Children with later ASD diagnosis had higher scores in kindergarten in cognitive areas but lower scores in social-emotional areas than children with other disabilities. These findings support the potential of the EDI to monitor ASD-like behaviors at the population level. Autism Res 2018, 11: 410-420.
Monitoring behavior patterns that may be specific to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at a population level has the potential to improve the allocation of intervention strategies and reduction of the burden of the disease. In Ontario, Canada, developmental data are regularly collected for all kindergarten children with the Early Development Instrument (EDI), a teacher-completed questionnaire that provides information on children's status in five domains: physical, social, emotional, language/cognitive, and communication/general knowledge. Our main research questions are: (a) are there differences in kindergarten EDI domain scores between children who are diagnosed with ASD by Grade 3 and those who develop typically or have other disabilities?; (b) do these differences show a different pattern in relation to an early (by kindergarten) or late (by Grade 3) diagnosis?; and (c) are there specific subdomains on the EDI that demonstrate a consistent pattern of differences? EDI domain and subdomain scores were compared among groups using multivariate analysis of variance controlling for age, gender, EDI year, and EDI year by age interaction. Children with ASD, regardless of timing of identification, had significantly lower scores on all domains of the EDI than typically developing children. Children with later ASD diagnosis had higher scores in kindergarten in cognitive areas but lower scores in social-emotional areas than children with other disabilities. These findings support the potential of the EDI to monitor ASD-like behaviors at the population level. Autism Res 2018, 11: 410-420.
Authors: Dajie Zhang; Iris Krieber-Tomantschger; Luise Poustka; Herbert Roeyers; Jeff Sigafoos; Sven Bölte; Peter B Marschik; Christa Einspieler Journal: J Autism Dev Disord Date: 2019-09
Authors: Magdalena Janus; Caroline Reid-Westoby; Noam Raiter; Barry Forer; Martin Guhn Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2021-03-25 Impact factor: 3.390