Autism is a lifelong complex neurodevelopmental condition that affects brain development and behaviour with significant consequences for everyday life. Despite its personal, familial, and societal impact, Europe-wide harmonised guidelines are still lacking for early detection, diagnosis, and intervention, leading to an overall unsatisfactory autistic person and carer journey.

The care pathway for autistic children and adolescents was analysed in Italy, Spain and the UK from the perspective of carers (using a survey aimed at caregivers of autistic children 0–18 years old), the autistic community, and professionals in order to identify major barriers (treatment gaps) preventing carers from receiving information, support, and timely screening/diagnosis and intervention.

Across all three countries, analysis of the current care pathway showed: long waits from the time carers raised their first concerns about a child’s development and/or behaviour until screening and confirmed diagnosis; delayed or no access to intervention once a diagnosis was confirmed; limited information about autism and how to access early detection services; and deficient support for families throughout the journey.

These findings call for policy harmonisation in Europe to shorten long wait times for diagnosis and intervention and therefore, improve autistic people and their families’ journey experience and quality of life.

Early screening of children at-risk to develop Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) needs to be improved to propose early interventions. This detection should allow diagnosis of ASD before the age of 3. An early screening performed at the general practitioner of the family should facilitate accessibility to diagnosis and a better collaboration between professionals.

Our primary objective is to estimate the positive predictive value of an early detection kit composed of 2 questionnaires (First screening: M-CHAT-R/F™ + CSBS DP™-ITC) and a confirmation of the detection with a phone call by a neuropsychologist. Patients with confirmed positive M-CHAT-R/F™ and/or CSBS DP™-ITC scores are referred to a level 2 team for pre-diagnosis and diagnosis assessment.

The KitCAT study is a cohort study of 1,700 children aged 16 to 24 months seen in routine care in general or pediatric practices, or in nurseries and child care centers.

Seven hundred and five children have already been enrolled in the study. Twenty nine patients, ie 4.1%, (with a confirmed positive M-CHAT-R/F™ and/or CSBS DP™-ITC scores) were referred to a level 2 team where a pre-diagnosis assessment was conducted by using the following test: ADI-R, ADOS 2, BLR, WPPSI-IV and Vineland II. The diagnosis of ASD (using the same test than the pre-diagnosis) was confirmed for the first two patients aged of 3.

The preliminary results confirm that the use of 2 questionnaires may optimize the reliability of the screening. A thousand children are still needed for the final analysis and further results are expected.

No significant relationships.