Covid-19 and the acceleration of telehealth in the healthcare system has made its way into some local research that has the potential to deliver efficient screening for autism, according to Flinders University Professor of Psychology, Robyn Young.
Young is working with US researchers who have been screening young people with autism through telehealth, unable to conduct face-to-face meetings during the pandemic.
“Getting the initial screening done via telehealth, especially if the person lives remotely, is making us think outside the square which is probably one good thing to come out of Covid,” Young told F2L.
By doing the interview in the home, clinicians can see the interaction between parent and child that gives more ecological validity under these conditions which are different to face-to-face in the clinical environment that can sometimes hinder evaluations.
Young has been conducting a small trial in Australia as part of the research with the telehealth interview component which she hopes will continue. “Parents sometimes cannot get the child to come in for an assessment, particularly adolescents, who often don’t want to talk or see anyone.”
However, she said, adopting this model has not yet been formally accepted. “People have to be supportive of this diagnostic process and for it to be approved from a research perspective we have to make sure we are getting the same results through telehealth as face-to-face.
“What the US model revealed is that less complicated assessments can be referred faster, particularly with young people, and we know the earlier the intervention starts the better the outcome.”
She said this research is also being done in Europe, the UK and China.
Young is also investigating people with autism and their interactions with the criminal judicial system. The four-year ARC funded SA project will focus on how people with ASD may become inadvertently involved in crime due to manipulation or naivety.
In addition, the team at Flinders University which includes persons with lived experiences, is considering the possibility that ASD individuals received unfavorable treatment within the criminal judicial system due to a lack of understanding of ASD in this jurisdiction.
For example, common ASD behavioural characteristics such as lack of affect may be perceived as showing no remorse, and avoidant eye-contact can lead to perceptions of deception leading to ASD persons being disadvantaged in their interactions within this system.
Read more about autism from Professor Young in Link Disability Magazine April issue out soon.