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. 2024 May;54(5):1680-1690.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-023-05927-6. Epub 2023 Feb 23.

The teleNIDA: Early Screening of Autism Spectrum Disorder Through a Novel Telehealth Approach

Valentina Riva  1 , Laura Villa  1 , Francesca Fulceri  2 , Giuseppe Maurizio Arduino  3 , Guido Leonti  3 , Giovanni Valeri  4 , Laura Casula  4 , Leonardo Zoccante  5 , Elena Puttini  5 , Carla Sogos  6 , Mariaelena Presicce  6 , Arianna Bentenuto  7 , Fabio Apicella  8 , Massimo Molteni  1 , Maria Luisa Scattoni  9
Affiliations

The teleNIDA: Early Screening of Autism Spectrum Disorder Through a Novel Telehealth Approach

Valentina Riva et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2024 May.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has fast-tracked interest in telehealth methods to guarantee the continuity of care of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Store-and-forward telehealth approaches offer the opportunity to facilitate timely screening of ASD, allowing parents to record videos of their child's behaviors, subsequently shared with clinicians that provide an assessment remotely. This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of a new telehealth screening tool, the teleNIDA, administered in home settings for remote observation of early signs of ASD in toddlers aged 18-30 months. Results showed good psychometric properties of the teleNIDA, as compared to the gold standard in-person assessment, and the predictive validity on the diagnosis of ASD at 36 months was demonstrated. This study supports the teleNIDA as a promising level 2 screening tool for ASD able to speed up diagnostic and intervention processes.

Keywords: Autism; Early screening; Telehealth; Toddlers.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The ROC curves of the teleNIDA
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Graphical representation of the AUC values at item level. Items are arranged in descending order, from the greater to the lesser AUC value
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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