Community-based screening program to detect pre-school children with developmental disorders
Primary school children with developmental disorders, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autistic spectrum disorders, face various problems in adapting to the school environment in accordance with their developmental stages. To support these children in primary school, it is essential to conduct a screening program for pre-school children. This study examines a community-based screening program designed to identify children with developmental disorders at 5 years of age.
METHODS:
The screening program was conducted by a pediatric neurologist in Koshu city, Japan. Children who were born between April 2, 2002, and April 1, 2003, and participated in the screening program at 5 years of age were assessed by their primary school homeroom teachers for symptoms of developmental disorders. Assessments were conducted at each grade between 2009 and 2011. Based on the results provided by their teachers in each grade, sensitivity and specificity of pre-school screening program were calculated.
RESULTS:
The number of children who participated in the pre-school screening program was 310 and 29 (9.4%) participants were positive for the screening. Of the screened participants, 258 (83.2%) were assessed their symptoms of developmental disorder in their primary schools. The numbers of children who had these symptoms in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades were 21 (8.1%), 22 (8.5%), and 23 (8.9%) respectively. Sensitivity of the screening in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades was 23.8%, 18.1%, and 26.1% respectively. Specificity of the screening in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades was 91.1%, 90.7%, and 91.5% respectively.
CONCLUSIONS:
There was a possibility to exist the effect of early intervention after screening, and the sensitivity and specificity of the screening program may have been underestimated. We will analyze the data continuously in the future, using the detail information of case children which were already obtained.