A validation study of the LABIRINTO scale for the evaluation of autism spectrum disorder in children aged 2 to 4 years.

Objective: To find evidence of the content, construct, and criterion validity of the LABIRINTO scale for the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children aged 24-59 months.

Methods: The scale was constructed in four stages: 1) items were defined based on an extensive literature review and discussions with autism and child development specialists; 2) child development specialists evaluated each item; 3) a preliminary version of the scale was applied to children diagnosed with ASD to enable any necessary adjustments; 4) the scale was then applied to 27 children with typical development and no neurodevelopmental disorder and 48 children with ASD. According to the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) and the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), clinical diagnosis constitutes the gold standard.

Pre-linguistic Vocal Trajectories at 6-18 Months of Age As Early Markers of Autism.

This study explores pre-linguistic vocal trajectories in infants with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) during caregiver-infant interaction. Home videos were obtained from 10 infants with ASD and 10 typically developing infants (TD), covering three time periods: 0-6 months (T1, 47 video sequences), 6-12 months (T2, 47 video sequences), and 12-18 months (T3, 48 video sequences). In total 142 video sequences were analyzed.