A possible role of the Infant/Toddler Sensory Profile in screening for autism: a proof-of-concept study in the specific sample of prematurely born children with birth weights <1,500 g

Stepanka Beranova; Jan Stoklasa; Iva Dudova; Daniela Markova; Martina Kasparova; Jana Zemankova; Tomas Urbanek; Tomas Talasek; Pasi Luukka; Michal Hrdlicka

doi:10.2147/NDT.S123066

A possible role of the Infant/Toddler Sensory Profile in screening for autism: a proof-of-concept study in the specific sample of prematurely born children with birth weights <1,500 g

Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2017 Jan 23:13:191-200. doi: 10.2147/NDT.S123066. eCollection 2017.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Child Psychiatry, Charles University Second Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Motol, Prague.
² Department of Applied Economics, Faculty of Arts, Palacky University, Olomouc.
³ Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Charles University First Faculty of Medicine and General University Hospital, Prague.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, Charles University Second Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Motol, Prague.
⁵ Department of Pediatrics, Charles University Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital, Hradec Kralove.
⁶ Institute of Psychology, Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic.
⁷ Laboratory of Applied Mathematics, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Lappeenranta, Finland.

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the potential of the Infant/Toddler Sensory Profile (ITSP) as a screening tool for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in prematurely born children.

Methods: Parents of 157 children with birth weights <1,500 g (aged 2 years, corrected for prematurity; 88 boys, 69 girls) completed a screening battery that included the ITSP, Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT), and the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales Developmental Profile Infant-Toddler Checklist (CSBS-DP-ITC). Children with known disabilities were excluded. All the children who were screened positive on any of the screening tools subsequently underwent clinical examination including the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule.

Results: We used classification trees to answer the question whether ITSP (or some of its subscales) could be combined with the M-CHAT and/or the CSBS-DP-ITC or its subscales into an effective ASD screening tool. Using the CSBS-DP-ITC, overall score, and the Sensation Seeking subscale of the ITSP, we obtained a screening tool that was able to identify all of the ASD children in our sample (confirmed by cross-validation). The proposed screening tool is scored as follows: 1) if the overall CSBS-DP-ITC value is <45.5, then the screening is positive; 2) if the overall CSBS-DP-ITC value is ≥45.5 and the z-score of the Sensation Seeking subscale of ITSP is ≥1.54, then the screening is positive; 3) otherwise, the screening is negative.

Conclusion: The use of CSBS-DP-ITC in combination with the Sensation Seeking subscale of the ITSP improved the accuracy of autism screening in preterm children.

Keywords: Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales Developmental Profile Infant-Toddler Checklist; Infant/Toddler Sensory Profile; Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers; autism spectrum disorders; preterm children; screening.