中華心理衛生協會

Purpose: This article reviews screening tools for infants under 2 years old with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Methods: Literature focusing on retrospective and prospective studies, and the studies of eye-tracking technique were reviewed for understanding the early signs in infants with ASD. Then, based on the findings of the literature, two levels of tools for infants with ASD were developed. We report the sensitivities and specificities and application of each screening tool for infants under 2 years old with ASD. Results: The previous studies suggested that infants under 2 years old with ASD showed early developmental signs in 6 domains, including visual/sensory abnormalities, delayed motor skills, repetitive play behavior, social communication impairment, and delayed language and cognitive abilities. Most screening tools for detecting ASD in infants under 2 years old are Level 1 tools, which are used to identify high risk infants with ASD from the general population. There exist few Level 2 screening tools, which are used to distinguish ASD from other developmental disorders. Conclusions: Both the Level 1 and Level 2 screening tools have good sensitivities and specificities. Suggestions are offered for selection and use of screening tools to detect ASD in infants under 2 in clinical settings in Taiwan.