Factors Associated with Restricted, Repetitive Behaviors and Interests and Diagnostic Severity Level Ratings in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
The First Year Inventory spots 1-year-olds who later receive an ASD diagnosis, so add it to your early-screening toolkit.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Ben-Itzchak et al. (2021) checked if the First Year Inventory (FYI) spots toddlers who later get an autism diagnosis. Parents filled out the 63-item FYI when their baby turned one. The team followed the children until age three to see who received an ASD label, a different developmental delay, or typical development.
The study used a two-domain cutoff: social-communication plus sensory-regulatory. Kids who scored high on both areas were counted as FYI-positive.
What they found
About one in three FYI-positive toddlers later received an ASD diagnosis. Roughly eight in five of the high-scorers had some developmental concern by age three. The FYI rarely missed later ASD; most children who ended up with autism had been flagged at 12 months.
The results say the FYI is good at catching early risk, not perfect at predicting exact diagnosis.
How this fits with other research
Watson et al. (2007) asked parents to look back and fill out the FYI for preschoolers who already had ASD. They also saw higher FYI scores in the ASD group. Ben-Itzchak et al. (2021) moved from memory to real time, showing the same tool works before anyone knows the outcome. The new study extends, not contradicts, the older one.
Root et al. (2026) found that restricted and repetitive behaviors split into five clear factors when kids were 2–9 years old. Esther’s 12-month FYI social-communication plus sensory-regulatory domains line up with two of those later factors, hinting that the same traits are measurable much earlier.
Kitanishi et al. (2025) showed the CBCL 1.5–5 can also screen for ASD in preschoolers. FYI gives earlier warning at 12 months; CBCL is easier to find in clinics. Use FYI when you want the youngest alert, CBCL when you need a low-cost follow-up.
Why it matters
If you screen babies during well-baby visits, adding the FYI takes parents ten minutes and gives you a reliable red-flag at 12 months. High scores mean start referral tracks, schedule follow-ups, and share early-intervention resources. You still need a full diagnostic team, but you gain a full year of time that you would lose waiting for toddler signs to show up on their own.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The First Year Inventory is a parent-report measure designed to identify 12-month-old infants at risk for autism spectrum disorder. First Year Inventory taps behaviors that indicate risk in the developmental domains of sensory-regulatory and social-communication functioning. This longitudinal study is a follow-up of 699 children at 3 years of age from a community sample whose parents completed the First Year Inventory when their children were 12 months old. Parents of all 699 children completed the Social Responsiveness Scale-Preschool version and the Developmental Concerns Questionnaire to determine age 3 developmental outcomes. In addition, children deemed at risk for autism spectrum disorder based on liberal cut points on the First Year Inventory, Social Responsiveness Scale-Preschool, and/or Developmental Concerns Questionnaire were invited for in-person diagnostic evaluations. We found 9 children who had a confirmed diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder from the sample of 699. Receiver operating characteristic analyses determined that a two-domain cutoff score yielded optimal classification of children: 31% of those meeting algorithm cutoffs had autism spectrum disorder and 85% had a developmental disability or concern by age 3. These results suggest that the First Year Inventory is a promising tool for identifying 12-month-old infants who are at risk for an eventual diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2021 · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02214.x