Screening in toddlers and preschoolers at risk for autism spectrum disorder: Evaluating a novel mobile-health screening tool.
A parent-phone app that mixes short home videos with survey questions spots toddler autism risk better than four standard paper screeners.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team tested a phone app called Cognoa. Parents answered questions and filmed short clips of their child at home.
Doctors compared the app’s risk score to four paper screeners already used in clinics. Kids were already referred for possible autism.
What they found
Cognoa flagged autism risk more accurately than the four paper forms. It caught cases the older tools missed.
The app still kept most kids who truly had autism in the high-risk group.
How this fits with other research
Older studies like Pandey et al. (2008) and van den Broek et al. (2006) showed the M-CHAT and SCQ miss some toddlers, especially higher-functioning ones. Cognoa’s video feature seems to close that gap.
Kremkow et al. (2022) reviewed many digital tools and said most are still “proof-of-concept.” Cognoa is one of the few already tested in real clinics, so it moves the field forward.
Dudley et al. (2019) created a picture booklet for low-literacy families. Cognoa uses video instead, but both aim for the same goal: quick, parent-friendly screening.
Why it matters
You can hand a family the Cognoa app while they wait. Ten minutes later you have a risk score that beats paper forms. Use it as a second layer after your usual screen to catch kids who might otherwise slip through.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
UNLABELLED: There are many available tools with varying levels of accuracy designed to screen for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in young children, both in the general population and specifically among those referred for developmental concerns. With burgeoning waitlists for comprehensive diagnostic ASD assessments, finding accurate methods and tools for advancing diagnostic triage becomes increasingly important. The current study compares the efficacy of four oft used paper and pencil measures, the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers Revised with Follow-up, the Social Responsiveness Scale, Second Edition, and the Social Communication Questionnaire, and the Child Behavior Checklist to a novel mobile-health screening tool developed by Cognoa, Inc. (Cognoa) in a group of children 18-72 months of age. The Cognoa tool may have potential benefits as it integrates a series of parent-report questions with remote clinical ratings of brief video segments uploaded via parent's smartphones to calculate level of ASD risk. Participants were referred to one of three tertiary care diagnostic centers for ASD-related concerns (n = 230) and received a best estimate ASD diagnosis. Analysis and comparison of psychometric properties indicated potential advantages for Cognoa within this clinical sample across age ranges not often covered by another single measure/tool. Autism Res 2018, 11: 1038-1049. © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: With the wait times getting longer for comprehensive Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnostic assessments, it is becoming increasingly important to find accurate tools to screen for ASD. The current study compares four screening measures that have been in use for some time to a novel mobile-health screening tool, called Cognoa. The Cognoa tool is novel because it integrates parent-report questions with clinical ratings of brief video segments uploaded via parent's smartphones to calculate ASD risk. Two hundred thirty children who were referred to one of three ASD specialty diagnostic centers to see if they had ASD participated in the study. A direct comparison indicated potential advantages for Cognoa not often covered by another single measure/tool.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2018 · doi:10.1002/aur.1959