Diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorder: Are we meeting best practice standards?

Introduction: There is currently no consistent standard for diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Therefore, discrepant practices across states and between clinicians are likely. The aim of this research was to... [ view full abstract ]

Introduction: There is currently no consistent standard for diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Therefore, discrepant practices across states and between clinicians are likely. The aim of this research was to investigate the diagnostic practices and reliability of ASD diagnoses.
Methodology: The first phase of the study comprised a survey of 173 health professionals whose clinical practice includes participating in the diagnostic process for ASD. The participants completed an online questionnaire which contained questions about their diagnostic setting, diagnostic process and diagnostic outcomes. In Phase 2, participants watched video-recorded assessments of children (aged 0-5) who had participated in a multidisciplinary assessment for ASD. After watching the videos, participants made a judgement about the children’s diagnosis. We then determined whether these ratings were consistent with the original best estimate clinical diagnosis.
Results: The results highlight considerable variability in diagnostic practices for ASD across the nation. In this presentation, we will also present the results of phase 2, where we examined the reliability of ASD diagnoses between health professionals.
Conclusion: Some professionals may not be practicing in a way that is consistent with international best practice guidelines for ASD diagnosis. These findings have implications for future service delivery models and highlight the need for a consistent standards for ASD diagnosis.

This research had approval from the UWA Human Research Ethics Committee (Ref RA/4/1/6997) [ view full abstract ]

This research had approval from the UWA Human Research Ethics Committee (Ref RA/4/1/6997)