We are currently in the process of producing a number of papers and journal articles following our in-
Further updates regarding this research will be published on this page as and when they are available, and announced on our Facebook page.
by Judy Eaton, Kathryn Duncan and Ellen Hesketh
London
The authors are a Consultant Clinical Psychologist (JE), a Higher Assistant Psychologist (KD) and a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist (EH). Their paper aims to build on the instrument developed by Moran (2010) and added to by Flackhill et al (2017). The Coventry Grid Interview was designed to be used by clinicians as part of a comprehensive assessment process and not as a stand-alone diagnostic tool. There is often diagnostic confusion over the differences between children presenting with autism and those with attachment disorders and some children have both. This paper adds further to the Coventry Grid Interview by including items which might help to identify children with a Pathological (or Extreme) Demand Avoidant profile. (To read the full journal please click the link below.)
by Judy Eaton, Kaylee Weaver
London
This paper is in two parts. The first part analyses the scores on Module 3 of the ADOS-2 of 136 children diagnosed with autism following an autism diagnostic assessment at a specialist multidisciplinary clinic. From all the information collected during the assessment, it was concluded that 65 (47 per cent) of the children in this sample had both autism and a Pathological Demand Avoidant (PDA) profile. The authors therefore compared scores on Module 3 of the ADOS-2 of the two groups. They concluded that these scores successfully differentiated children with autism only, from those with autism with a PDA profile. The ADOS-2, Module 3 may therefore be a useful assessment tool for qualified clinicians to use as part of their diagnostic formulation. The authors acknowledge that this does not constitute evidence that autism with a PDA profile is a discrete autism subgroup or that similar types of behaviours to those observed in the PDA profile are never observed in other groups of children, as this study only included children diagnosed with autism.
The second part of the study analysed the developmental histories of a slightly larger sample of 161 children, randomly selected from 351 children assessed. The authors sought to identify differences in the histories of children in three specific groups (children with autism; autism with the PDA profile; children with attachment difficulties) with a specific focus upon the reported features of the PDA profile. These findings showed that there were significant differences between those with autism with the PDA profile and the other two groups and they discuss the implications of this for practice and further research.
