The Role of Demographics in the Age of Autism Diagnosis in Jerusalem

Judah Koller*, Ronny Shalev, Chen Schallamach, Thomas P. Gumpel, Michal Begin

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children enables earlier access to services and better ability to predict subsequent development. A vast body of literature consistently shows discrepancies in the age of diagnosis between children from varying socio-economic levels, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The present study examines the effect of sociodemographic factors on age of ASD diagnosis among the three primary ethnic sectors in Jerusalem region: secular and modern religious Jews, ultra-Orthodox Jews and Arabs. Findings indicate minimal differences in age of diagnosis prior to the age of six, although Arab children of this age were largely minimally verbal. After age six, no Arab children were referred for an evaluation.

Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)769-777
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Volume51
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank the children and families who made this study possible and the clinical staff of Leumit Healthcare Child Developmental Center.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

Keywords

  • Autism spectrum disorder
  • Early diagnosis
  • Ethnic
  • Jerusalem
  • Socioeconomic

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The Role of Demographics in the Age of Autism Diagnosis in Jerusalem'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this