Project description

The issue addressed by this research project is the lack of consensus in the scientific community on what autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is. Because the diagnostic criteria for ASD remain vague and the autism population is very heterogeneous, the final diagnosis sometimes tends to be late, following several other misdiagnoses. In addition, autism experts may have very different representations of who is an autistic person, as the autistic population varies greatly depending on the population to which the assessor has been exposed. The signs on which the DSM-5 assessment of ASD is based are also very abstract and are operationalized in many different ways. Thus, different early childhood professionals may have differing opinions about the conclusion of an ASD diagnosis and how to manage the autistic patient thereafter.

The main research issue concerns how the diagnosis of ASD is made and the behavioral signs used to arrive at the diagnosis.

This project aims to document the presence or absence of certain typical signs of autism in participants who were referred to the Hôpital en santé mentale Rivière-des-Prairies (HSMRDP). The documentation in the participants' clinical records could lead to a new way of diagnosing autism by finding criteria that, on their own, lead to a diagnosis of ASD. This would determine if the combination of certain warning signs could lead professionals to an earlier and more accurate identification of ASD than is currently the case.