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. 2018 Aug;48(8):2601-2610.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-018-3524-y.

Early Identification of ASD Through Telemedicine: Potential Value for Underserved Populations

A Pablo Juárez  1   2   3 , Amy S Weitlauf  1   2 , Amy Nicholson  1   2 , Anna Pasternak  1   2 , Neill Broderick  1   2 , Jeffrey Hine  1   2 , J Alacia Stainbrook  1   2 , Zachary Warren  4   5   6   7
Affiliations

Early Identification of ASD Through Telemedicine: Potential Value for Underserved Populations

A Pablo Juárez et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2018 Aug.

Abstract

Increasing access to diagnostic services is crucial for identifying ASD in young children. We therefore evaluated a telemedicine assessment procedure. First, we compared telediagnostic accuracy to blinded gold-standard evaluations (n = 20). ASD cases identified via telemedicine were confirmed by in-person evaluation. However, 20% of children diagnosed with ASD in-person were not diagnosed via telemedicine. Second, we evaluated telediagnostic feasibility and acceptability in a rural catchment. Children (n = 45) and caregivers completed the telemedicine procedure and provided feedback. Families indicated high levels of satisfaction. Remote diagnostic clinicians diagnosed 62% of children with ASD, but did not feel capable of ruling-in or out ASD in 13% of cases. Findings support preliminary feasibility, accuracy, and clinical utility of telemedicine-based assessment of ASD for young children.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; Diagnosis; Telemedicine; Young children.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: Each author declares that he/she has no conflict of interest.

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