A parent-report instrument for identifying one-year-olds at risk for an eventual diagnosis of autism: the first year inventory.

The team built a new parent form called the First Year Inventory (FYI). Parents of 12-month-olds answer 63 questions about their baby’s play, sounds, and eye contact.

They tested it on the families. Half the babies were boys. The goal was to see if the form could spot early signs of autism risk.

Most babies scored low. A small slice, about 5 %, landed above the risk cutoff. Boys scored a bit higher than girls on average.

The form was easy for parents to finish in under 15 minutes. The researchers said the tool looks promising, but they still need to follow the kids for a few years to be sure.

Shire et al. (2019) later tracked high-risk siblings with the same FYI 2.0. Kids who later got an ASD diagnosis had much higher 12-month scores. They also showed that the original cutoffs needed tweaking for high-risk siblings.

Ricciardi et al. (2006) did something similar one year earlier. Their 4-item ESAT caught ASD risk at 14 months. FYI pushes the screen age even younger, down to 12 months.

Laposa et al. (2017) found shorter cry sounds in 12-month high-risk siblings who later had ASD. FYI adds parent report to that same age window, giving you two cheap flags instead of one.

If you run early-intervention intake, keep a stack of FYI forms handy. A quick parent scan at 12 months can guide you toward babies who need a closer look. Pair it with cry-acoustic checks or the 4-item ESAT at 14 months to catch kids who might otherwise slip through the cracks.