Early Indicators of Autism in Infants: Development of the IMES Screening Tool.

We developed the Infant, Motor, and Engagement Scale (IMES) to address the public health goal of early identification of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The IMES is a screening tool that assesses quality of infants' interaction with people and objects during early play. We aimed to examine the IMES' preliminary psychometric properties and its value in discriminating between infants later diagnosed with ASD and typically developing infants.