Biomedical subjects

K Mildenberger

Publications and source records attributed to K Mildenberger.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

The use of the ADI-R as a diagnostic tool in the differential diagnosis of children with infantile autism and children with a receptive language disorder.

Children with infantile autism and children with a specific receptive language disorder often show similar behavioural problems, making the differentiation between these two diagnostic categories difficult. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of parental information in the differential diagnosis of the two types of disorders mentioned above. Sixteen children with a receptive language disorder and 11 children with infantile autism participated in the study. All children had normal non-verbal IQs. The ADI-R (Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised) was performed with all children. The results showed that the ADI-R items reflecting behavioural features at pre-school age (age range 4-5 years) were better suited to differentiate the groups than the items reflecting behavioural features at the time of the investigation (mean age: 9 years). The items on the dimension "Reciprocal social interaction" and "Communication and language" discriminated the groups better than the items of the dimension "Restricted interests". According to the ICD-10 algorithm of the ADI-R one child with autism and one child with a receptive language disorder were falsely classified. These false classifications were mainly due to a distorted parental perception of the child's behaviour. The ADI-R is a useful tool in the differential diagnosis of developmental disorders.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2001

Evaluation of attention problems in children with autism and children with a specific language disorder.

Children with autism and children with a specific language disorder show additional attention deficits. The literature on the neuropsychological investigation of attention in both groups of children suggests that the nature of their attention problems might be different. The purpose of this study is to examine the attention test profiles in these two groups of children with developmental disorders. Nineteen children and adolescents with autism, 17 subjects with a specific language disorder and 19 control subjects participated in the study. Non-verbal intelligence was normal for all subjects. The "Testbatterie zur Aufmerksamkeitsprüfung" was administered to all subjects. This instrument provides the possibility to examine a wide range of attention functions and executive functions. The results showed that the autistic individuals had deficits in executive functions, whereas the language impaired children had deficits in auditory sustained attention, in auditory selective attention, and in the domain of executive functions. It is concluded that although both groups of developmentally impaired subjects showed attention problems, the deficits are not the same in both groups. The different neuropsychological profiles probably reflect different mechanisms in the pathogenesis of the attention deficits in both types of developmental disorders.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

[Behavioral problems in children with specific and pervasive developmental disorders, evaluated with the psychopathology assessment scale (AMDP)].

Children with specific developmental disorders of speech and language have an increased rate of psychiatric disorder compared to children developing normally. Children with early infantile autism show psychopathological symptoms in addition to those that are required for the diagnosis. These are often important in daily dealings with the children. As part of a larger study 4 groups of school age children (21 with normal development, 18 with an expressive language disorder, 21 with a receptive language disorder and 11 children with early infantile autism) were rated according to the psychopathological documentation for children (AMDP) within the assessment situation and according to reports of the behaviour outside. Several items were added to include symptoms that are not rated in the present documentation. Significant differences in the means were found between the group of children with autism and the control group. The children with language disorder showed a high variance which was interpreted as a sign for a heterogeneous group. Several of the added items improve the documentation of psychopathological findings in young school children.

Age Factors↗

PubMed2000

Diagnostic assessment of communicative and interactive behaviours in children with autism and receptive language disorder.

Children with autism and children with a severe specific receptive language disorder both show clear deficits in communicative language skills and in social relationships. In this study the usefulness of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) in the differential diagnosis between these two groups of developmentally impaired children is assessed. 11 children with early infantile autism and 20 children with a specific receptive language disorder participated in the study. 18 children with an expressive language disorder were used as a control group. The ADOS was individually administered to all children by the same examiner. The results showed that on most of the ADOS measures the autistic children were clearly more deviant than the language impaired children. There were no significant differences between the two groups of language impaired children. Eight out of 11 autistic children reached the defined cut-off values on the measures "language and communication" and "social interaction" of the ADOS algorithm, whereas only three autistic children did so on the measure "stereotyped behaviour". None of the language-impaired children reached the cut-off values on more than one measure. The ADOS allowed for good assessment of certain types of behaviour. However, to confirm the diagnosis of infantile autism, additional information from parents is required.

Autistic Disorder↗

PubMed1999

[Exclusion of receptive speech disorders with the ADOS (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule)].

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of our pilot study was to assess the reliability and diagnostic validity of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). The usefulness of the schedule in the differentiation between children with autism and children with a severe specific receptive language disorder is examined. METHOD: Eight boys with early infantile autism and eight age- and IQ-matched boys with a specific receptive language disorder were examined with the ADOS. The reliability of the instrument was assessed using the ratings of eight pairs of raters. The agreement between diagnostic classification based on the ADOS ICD-10 algorithm and the independent clinical psychiatric diagnosis of two experts was used as the measure of validity. RESULTS: The reliability of the different ADOS items proved to be good among experienced raters. Various ADOS items clearly discriminate both groups. Using the ADOS ICD-10 algorithm, the clinical diagnosis of infantile autism could be confirmed for five of the eight children in this group. None of the children with the clinical diagnosis of a receptive language disorder was identified as autistic according to the algorithm. CONCLUSIONS: In the hands of experienced raters the ADOS is a reliable diagnostic instrument. It can support the differentiation between autism and specific receptive language disorder, but additional parent information is needed to confirm the diagnosis.

Auditory Perceptual Disorders↗