A new screening instrument for ASD was developed that can be filled out by child care workers: the Checklist for Early Signs
of Developmental Disorders (CESDD). The predictive validity of the CESDD was evaluated in a population of 6,808 children between
3 and 39 months attending day-care centres in Flanders. The CESDD had a sensitivity of .80 and a specificity of .94. Based
on the screening procedure used in this study, 41 children were diagnosed with ASD or got a working diagnosis of ASD. Thus,
including child care workers’ report on signs of ASD in screening procedures can help to identify cases of ASD at a young
age.
Keywords Autism spectrum disorder - Screening - Early identification - Child care - Toddlers