Özet:

Objective: Autism spectrum disorder (OSB) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder in childhood that affects one in 68 children. Many children with OSB show noticeable problems in social interactions in the first year of their lives. Although some mothers notice the problems early, the diagnosis of children is delayed for various reasons. In this study, we aimed at exploring the relationship between the autistic characteristics of the parent, the alexity and the child’s problematic behavior and the diagnostic delay. Tools and Methods: A total of 80 children and parents with OSB were included in the study. The mothers were given an Oasis Survey (OA), a Toronto Alchemist Scale and an Abnormal Behavior Control List. The social and economic situation was measured by the Hollingshead-Redich scale. The findings: The average diagnosed OSB age was 35,73±12,03 months, and the period of parents' first notice of symptoms was 27,07±9,43 months. We also found an average of 9.66 ± 8.89 months of delay between mothers noticing symptoms in their children and bringing them to the child and adolescent psychiatric clinic. This difference has shown a significant positive correlation with the parents’ OA-social skills low scale scores. The result: Our study is important in terms of the presentation of the age-related data in the OSB diagnosis in Turkey and information about the diagnosis delay. There is a need for a more comprehensive, multi-centric study.

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