ArticleJournal of autism and developmental disorders2025
Autism Detection in Early Childhood (ADEC) in a Low-Income Spanish-Speaking Population in Guayaquil (Ecuador).
Article in Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Comparative screening accuracy of the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers, Revised with Follow-Up (M-Chat-R/F) for early autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review.Family medicine and community health · 2026Pooled it
- Parent Ratings and Clinician Observational Tools in Autism: A Pilot Study in Spanish-Speaking Families.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Article
- Executive Functions Assessment in a Child with Autism: A Pilot Single-Case Study from a Longitudinal and Mixed Methods Approach.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
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4 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) must be present early in development, but may not fully manifest until social demands exceed capacities. In the absence of adequate biological or brain imaging markers to detect and diagnose autism, diagnosis relies on clinical judgment based on observation of symptoms. Many tools have been developed in English-speaking countries (questionnaires for parents, symptom checklists for professionals, observation systems, etc.). Screening in countries with other languages requires cultural and linguistic adaptation of these instruments. This paper presents the adaptation of the ADEC (Autism Detection in Early Childhood).
methodsThe original version of the ADEC was translated and culturally and linguistically adapted to the characteristics of the population of Guayaquil (Ecuador).
participantsA pilot study was conducted with a sample of 613 children aged 18-48 months.
resultsCronbach's alpha values (0.89) indicate high internal consistency. The correlation between the MCHAT-R/F follow-up interview and the ADEC (mean r = 0.93) indicates high construct validity. In terms of predictive validity, using the original cut-off points of the ADEC, they show excellent diagnostic ability. The sensitivity and specificity results (sensitivity 1.00; specificity 0.92; positive predictive value 0.83; negative predictive value 0.99) are even better than those obtained in a similar study in the Mexican population.
conclusionsConsidering that the MCHAT R/F is a parent-reported instrument, the Guayaquil Spanish version of the ADEC (ADEC-GU) seems to be a suitable instrument to be used in a complementary way as a second-level screening instrument for autism, before resorting to a full diagnostic process.
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