Autistic spectrum disorders.

Autistic spectrum disorders is a complex developmental disorder with social and communication dysfunction at its core. It has a wide clinical spectrum with a common triad of impairments -- social communication, social interaction and social imagination. Even mild or subtle difficulties can have a profound and devastating impact on the child. To be able to provide suitable treatments and interventions the distinctive way of thinking and learning of autistic children has to be understood. The core areas of social, emotional, communication and language deficits have to be addressed at all levels of functioning. The important goals of assessment include a categorical diagnosis of autism that looks at differential diagnosis, a refined precise documentation of the child's functioning in various developmental domains and ascertaining presence of co-morbid conditions. The interventions have to be adapted to the individual's chronological age, developmental phase and level of functioning. The strategies of curriculum delivery and teaching the child with autism is distinctive and includes presence of structure to increase predictability and strategies to reduce arousal of anxiety.

The Indian picture puzzle test - a developmental test designed and standardised for Indian children.

OBJECTIVE: To construct a test used by community pediatricians and other professionals in the UK as a screening test for verbal and non-verbal development in children aged 2 to 4 years of age. METHODS: A multifaceted developmental test of cognitive skills was constructed, modeled on the Bus Puzde Test (Egan 1984) for its case of administration and appeal. Each stage in the design was piloted in Rajasthan in all socioeconomic groups. Stages include simple ethnic modification of the original test, development of more socioculturally appropriate scenes, a detailed statistical procedure of item analysis and reliability studies. The picture was converted into a wooden insert puzzle, called The Indan Picture Puzzle Test (IPPT) and standardized on a random sample of 616 children to construct the norms. RESULT: The IPPT assesses aspects of early language, picture interpretation, performance skills and conceptual development in children aged 2 to 5 years. Analysis of the standardized data highlighted the need for separate norms for each socioeconomic group. CONCLUSION: Verbal abilities were significantly different between advantaged and disadvantaged (slum and rural) groups though performance skills were comparable.