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diagnostic criteria for AS/ASD has changed

4 replies

jenk1 · 01/10/2005 07:48

i watched a documentary the other day on teachers tv with jacqui jackson and her boys on it.

She said[jackie] that the triad of impairments has now changed from lack of imaginative play to theory of mind because the experts accept that people and children with ASD/AS do have an imagination.

Just wondered if anyone had seen this and has heard the same from anyone, yesterday someone kindly posted me a link to the CHAT test performed on toddlers, but if this is the case and theory of mind is now used instead of imaginative play then the CHAT test would have to be changed.

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Jimjams · 01/10/2005 07:53

I have heard this, but haven't found anything written on it.

The CHAT test wouldn't have to be changed as it's just a screening tool. It picks up about 30-40% of children with autism (if performed at 18 months)- so misses a load, but IIRC is almost 100% reliable (so if your child fails the CHAT test in all areas at 18 months then they are almost certainly autistic). If they fail in one area they are usually not autistic, but often have delays. The age at which it is carried out is essential though as the reliability/specificity etc changes depending on the age at which it is performed.

You couldn't incorporate a theory of mind test at 18 months as it present in normally developing children at that age. TOM doesn't develop fully until about age 5 - although normally developing children will start to understand aspects of it from about age 3.

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Jimjams · 01/10/2005 07:54

as is isn't present in normally developing children of that age

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KarenThirl · 01/10/2005 08:56

My interpretation of the imagination aspect was that it was a dysfunction rather than an absence of imaginative play. Surely that's what 'impairment' means? It's true that most ASD children have imagination but they can't extend that that to imaginative play instigated by others.

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jenk1 · 01/10/2005 09:58

yes i agree with you both but i have heard it said by professionals that people with autism have no imagination and i think thats wrong, i know i certainly had imagination as a child maybe not to the same extent as my friends but i was always in my own world imagining something.

But as time goes on and all these children that are being diagnosed grow into adults there will be more research done into this aspect of autism no doubt, at the moment there arent a lot of diagnosed adults-especially with AS that can comment on how they could imagine things as a child.