Differential profiles of four groups of children referred to an autism diagnostic service in Belgium: Autism-specific hallmarks.

Objective:: This article aims at exploring distinctive hallmarks of autistic disorders compared to other groups presenting mimicking and/or overlapping conditions.

Method:: The exploratory study involved 196 children with autism, intellectual disability, language impairment and psycho-affective disorders previously referred to an autism diagnostic service. The autism discriminative tool (ADT), a behavioural checklist, was used to compile and analyse the children's profiles based on the clinical information gathered during diagnostic assessments.