Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Apr 24;20(4):e134.
doi: 10.2196/jmir.9496.

Risk Assessment for Parents Who Suspect Their Child Has Autism Spectrum Disorder: Machine Learning Approach

Ayelet Ben-Sasson  1 , Diana L Robins  2 , Elad Yom-Tov  3
Affiliations

Risk Assessment for Parents Who Suspect Their Child Has Autism Spectrum Disorder: Machine Learning Approach

Ayelet Ben-Sasson et al. J Med Internet Res. .

Abstract

Background: Parents are likely to seek Web-based communities to verify their suspicions of autism spectrum disorder markers in their child. Automated tools support human decisions in many domains and could therefore potentially support concerned parents.

Objective: The objective of this study was to test the feasibility of assessing autism spectrum disorder risk in parental concerns from Web-based sources, using automated text analysis tools and minimal standard questioning.

Methods: Participants were 115 parents with concerns regarding their child's social-communication development. Children were 16- to 30-months old, and 57.4% (66/115) had a family history of autism spectrum disorder. Parents reported their concerns online, and completed an autism spectrum disorder-specific screener, the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers-Revised, with Follow-up (M-CHAT-R/F), and a broad developmental screener, the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ). An algorithm predicted autism spectrum disorder risk using a combination of the parent's text and a single screening question, selected by the algorithm to enhance prediction accuracy.

Results: Screening measures identified 58% (67/115) to 88% (101/115) of children at risk for autism spectrum disorder. Children with a family history of autism spectrum disorder were 3 times more likely to show autism spectrum disorder risk on screening measures. The prediction of a child's risk on the ASQ or M-CHAT-R was significantly more accurate when predicted from text combined with an M-CHAT-R question selected (automatically) than from the text alone. The frequently automatically selected M-CHAT-R questions that predicted risk were: following a point, make-believe play, and concern about deafness.

Conclusions: The internet can be harnessed to prescreen for autism spectrum disorder using parental concerns by administering a few standardized screening questions to augment this process.

Keywords: autistic disorder; child; early diagnosis; expression of concern; machine learning; parents; screening; technology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: ABS and EYT have no conflicting interests. The second author of the paper, DLR, is a co-owner of M-CHAT, LLC, which licenses the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers and related materials to commercial entities. No royalties were received that relate to any data presented in this manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart for the proposed method of screening of parental concerns.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Guinchat V, Chamak B, Bonniau B, Bodeau N, Perisse D, Cohen D, Danion A. Very early signs of autism reported by parents include many concerns not specific to autism criteria. Res Autism Spectr Disord. 2012 Apr;6(2):589–601. doi: 10.1016/j.rasd.2011.10.005. doi: 10.1016/j.rasd.2011.10.005. - DOI - DOI
    1. Richards M, Mossey J, Robins D. Parents' concerns as they relate to their child's development and later diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2016 Sep;37(7):532–40. doi: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000000339. http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/27541581 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Siklos S, Kerns K. Assessing the diagnostic experiences of a small sample of parents of children with autism spectrum disorders. Res Dev Disabil. 2007;28(1):9–22. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2005.09.003.S0891-4222(05)00094-6 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Klintwall L, Eldevik S, Eikeseth S. Narrowing the gap: effects of intervention on developmental trajectories in autism. Autism. 2015 Jan;19(1):53–63. doi: 10.1177/1362361313510067.1362361313510067 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ozonoff S, Williams BR, Landa R. Parental report of the early development of children with regressive autism: the delays-plus-regression phenotype. Autism. 2005 Dec;9(5):461–86. doi: 10.1177/1362361305057880.9/5/461 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types