Adaptation of assessment of pervasive developmental disorder in lower income countries

Abstract

The project aimed to investigate the possibility of adaptation of assessments for diagnosing Pervasive Developmental Disorder in a Southeast Asian country. This paper presents a personal project, at first created for humanitarian purposes. The main difficulties were the nonadaptation of the material, and the confusion between autism and mental retardation. The project took place in a special education centre in Vientiane, Laos. It involved 23 children who first screened positive with M-CHAT. Out of the 23 children participating in the project, 13 were diagnosed with a PDD. The scores at ADOS and ADI-R matched, showing that the use of the gold standard may be considered as relevant in Laos. However, a study on a bigger sample has to confirm this conclusion. The results showed the need to adapt the material of ADOS, as well as the necessity of collaboration with local experts and developing awareness of autism. This study result is inconclusive concerning the epidemiology of autism in Laos, regarding the small size of the sample. The factors associated with the difficulties of the diagnosis process in Laos may be found in others area of South-East Asia. The specificities of Laos concerning the diagnosis of autism are: tonal language, lower access to information, lower or no access to specific medical resources on autism, rural population, difference in the use of toys, reasons of parental first worries, diversity of population and languages.

Keywords

• Laos
• autism
• adaptation
• lowerincome
• epidemiology