Reliability of parent recall of symptom onset and timing in autism spectrum disorder

Past events are often reported as occurring more recently than they actually took place, an error called forward telescoping. This study examined whether forward telescoping was evident in parent reports of autism spectrum disorder symptom emergence and onset classification. Parents were interviewed...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Autism : the international journal of research and practice 2018-10, Vol.22 (7), p.891-896
Main Authors: Ozonoff, Sally, Li, Deana, Deprey, Lesley, Hanzel, Elise P, Iosif, Ana-Maria
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Autism
Autistic children
Child & adolescent psychiatry
Classification
Medical diagnosis
Parents & parenting
Reliability
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Summary:Past events are often reported as occurring more recently than they actually took place, an error called forward telescoping. This study examined whether forward telescoping was evident in parent reports of autism spectrum disorder symptom emergence and onset classification. Parents were interviewed when their child was 2–3 years old (Time 1) and approximately 6 years old (Time 2). Significant forward telescoping was found in both age of social regression and age when language milestones were achieved, but not age of language regression. The correspondence between Time 1 and Time 2 onset report was low (kappa = 0.38). Approximately one-quarter of the sample changed onset categories, most often due to parents not recalling a regression at Time 2 that they had reported at Time 1. These results challenge the use of retrospective methods in determining onset patterns.
ISSN:1362-3613
1461-7005
DOI:10.1177/1362361317710798