Parent-reported Early Atypical Development and Age of Diagnosis for Children with Co-occurring Autism and ADHD.
Willow J Sainsbury, Kelly Carrasco, Andrew J O Whitehouse and 1 others
PMID 35254600WHAT IT FOUND
Early parent-reported signs were similar across autism, ADHD, and co-occurring groups, but children with both received ADHD earlier and autism later.
Language and social reports differed more by the end of infancy than early on.
Key findings
01In the earliest parent-reported age range, total number of atypical development domains, presence of any atypical development, and domain-level reports did not significantly differ across diagnostic groups.
02For children with co-occurring autism and ADHD, the median age of ADHD diagnosis was 79.0 months, earlier than the median 96.2 months for ADHD only; the median age of autism diagnosis was 119.6 months, later than the mean 81.0 months for autism only.
03The co-occurring autism and ADHD group waited longer from specialist need to autism diagnosis than the autism only group and saw more types of specialists before diagnosis.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample was convenience recruited through autism and ADHD organisations and social media, so it may not represent all families. Diagnoses and ages were parent-reported and not clinically confirmed. Parents recalled early development and first concerns after diagnosis, so reports may be biased by knowing the diagnosis. Data were collected at a single point in time for children with a wide age range, so older children required longer recall. The diagnostic groups may change over time, as children now with autism only or ADHD only could later be diagnosed with both. The paper reports many comparisons across diagnostic groups and domains, and it does not test whether assessment or referral changes improve diagnosis.
Declared interests
Funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia) and Victoria University of Wellington.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that parent-reported early development can diagnose autism, ADHD, or both. The survey was retrospective, convenience-sampled, and not clinically confirmed.