Children's compliance with American Academy of Pediatrics' well-child care visit guidelines and the early detection of autism.
Keeping kids on the AAP well-child schedule trims seven weeks off autism diagnosis time.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Capio et al. (2013) looked at Medicaid records. They asked: Do kids who get every AAP well-child visit get an autism label sooner?
They compared two groups. One group had zero well-child visits. The other group followed the full AAP schedule.
What they found
Kids who stayed on schedule were diagnosed 1.6 months earlier. That is about seven weeks sooner.
Early label means earlier help.
How this fits with other research
Bradford et al. (2018) pushed the idea further. They put a short two-visit autism screen inside the regular doctor office. Wait time dropped from months to 55 days.
Shrestha et al. (2014) seems to disagree. In Nepal, kids still waited 29 months even after seeing doctors. The gap is place, not plan. Nepal lacks staff and money. The U.S. Medicaid system can act on the same visits faster.
McKenzie et al. (2015) adds another piece. Good paperwork before the visit also shortens the path. Combine on-time visits with full parent forms for best speed.
Why it matters
You cannot control where families live, but you can guard the schedule. Track every well-child visit in your client’s file. If a parent misses one, call and reschedule. That single phone call may move the autism label seven weeks earlier and open the door to therapy sooner.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study estimated compliance with American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines for well-child care and the association between compliance and age at diagnosis in a national sample of Medicaid-enrolled children with autism (N = 1,475). Mixed effects linear regression was used to assess the relationship between compliance and age at diagnosis. Mean age at diagnosis was 37.4 (SD 8.4) months, and mean compliance was 55 % (SD 33 %). Children whose care was compliant with AAP guidelines were diagnosed 1.6 months earlier than children who received no well-child care. Findings support that the timely receipt of well-child care may contribute to earlier detection. Additional research on the contribution of compliance, well-child visit components and provider characteristics on the timely diagnosis of autism is needed.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2013 · doi:10.1007/s10803-013-1831-x