Autism Mental Status Examination (AMSE): A Valid Instrument in the Evaluation of Pre-school Children with Suspected Autism Spectrum Disorders?

Mats Cederlund

doi:10.1007/s10803-019-04012-1

Abstract

In this study the Autism Mental Status Exam (AMSE) was validated towards ICD-10 Autism Spectrum Diagnoses (ASD) based on an interview with the Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication Disorders (DISCO-11) with parent(s)/caregiver(s) in a group of 124 children referred for assessment to a clinical assessment unit for pre-school children. The results from the study indicates a Fair relation across the AMSE score and ICD-10 Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). AMSE mean score for children not fulfilling criteria for an ASD at the assessment was significantly lower compared to the AMSE mean score for children who acquired an ASD diagnosis in the study. In addition, Vineland-II Parent/caregiver rating questionnaire GAF standard scores showed a reversed correlation to the AMSE mean scores (i.e. higher AMSE mean scores were related to lower Vineland-II GAF standard scores and vice versa).

Highlights

The screening and assessment of children with a suspected Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has been a matter of research for several decades, and a number of screening and supplementary instruments have been produced to facilitate the assessment
The Autism Diagnostic Observational Schedule (ADOS/ ADOS-2) was developed with the purpose to structure the observation of an individual with suspected ASD in a clinical setting (Lord et al 2001; Lord et al 2012a, b)
Of the 124 children concluding the study there were 81 boys, and 25 girls, who had a Current ICD-10 ASD diagnosis giving a 3.2:1 male:female ratio, which is a sex ratio in the lower interval compared to the data presented by Loomes et al (2017), who had found a male:female sex ratio of 3.1–4.3:1 in their meta-analysis of sex differences in ASD

Summary

Introduction

The screening and assessment of children with a suspected Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has been a matter of research for several decades, and a number of screening and supplementary instruments have been produced to facilitate the assessment. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (2019) 49:2965–2979 administer, and covers all main problematic areas included in ASD, albeit was originally developed for the assessment of autistic symptoms in individuals with a pronounced intellectual disability, and is less assigned for children with near normal or normal intelligence. The ASSQ was developed to screen for autistic symptoms in school children with normal intelligence, and has been found to be a good screening instrument for that group, with a sensitivity rate of 91%, and a specificity rate of 83%, albeit is less useful in children below 5 years of age (Posserud et al 2009). The ADOS requires specific professional training prior to the use of the instrument, and it needs a adequate clinical setting in which to be performed

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion