Does the M-CHAT give important information for the diagnosis of the Autism Spectrum Disorder?

Abstract

Having in mind the rising rates of the incidence for autism worldwide, the early diagnosis of this neuro developmental disorder is of the high priority. For that purpose, several checklists have been constructed and used. Nevertheless, there are no universal and uniform criteria for assessing and diagnosing autism, and even if there existed, not every country has the resources to manage such an assessment for diagnosis. A recently validated, revised version of the M-CHAT, the M-CHAT-Revised with Follow up (M-CHAT R/F) has demonstrated strong psychometric properties. The aim of this article is to discuss our results obtained with M-CHAT-R applied in a sample of 131 children aged 31,9 ±9,4 months, recruited for diagnosis and treatment at the University Children’s Hospital in Skopje. Our results confirmed that for screening the use of M-CHAT-R/F is currently the very exact instrument which allows the early suspicion, but also possible follow up the symptoms of this disorder. Additionally, we showed the significant negative correlation between age and scores obtained on the checklist.