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Screening children for autism in an urban clinic using an electronic M-CHAT
John W Harrington1, Robert Bai, Amy M Perkins
1Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA, USA. John.Harrington@chkd.org
Background:
The Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) is a screening tool for autism spectrum disorders in the clinic. However, the follow-up questions in the M-CHAT are difficult to implement on a paper format.
Objective:
To compare the effectiveness of the M-CHAT on an electronic format versus paper format in an outpatient clinic setting. Methods. A prospective study used electronic M-CHAT on the iPad. A retrospective review of paper M-CHATs 6 months prior to implementation was used as the comparison group.
Results:
A total of 176 participants completed the electronic M-CHAT format and 197 paper M-CHATs were retrospectively reviewed. The electronic format (3%) resulted in a significant difference in the frequency of children found to be at risk for autism compared with the paper version (11%); 99% of parents rated the experience as "good" or "excellent."
Conclusion:
The electronic format lowered both false at-risk screens and false not-at-risk screens and had higher parental satisfaction.
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