Involving parents in the remote diagnosis of Autism during the COVID-19 pandemic: a case study

Objective To evaluate the feasibility of remotely providing a diagnosis of autism during the Coronavirus Disease pandemic of 2019. Methods A child psychiatrist guided the parents' Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2) administration to assess their child's developmental delay through a video conference. Trained clinicians (n = 10) rated the recorded procedure. Interrater reliability for each item was evaluated using the kappa statistic and percent agreement. Results The mean percent agreement across all items was 96%, range = 85.96-100%, and mean weighted kappa = .81, range = .44-1. Conclusions This study highlights the feasibility of providing early identification and continuous psychiatric care during a pandemic lockdown.