Population Based Health Care Related

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Which of the following will lead one to need to consider autism spectrum disorder as a likely diagnosis?

  • A. A girl spoke her first words at 14 months, enjoyed playing with Peppa Pig characters at age 2 daily. She tended to sit away from her classmates at recess at age 7 but when asked, would say she had 30 friends. She was very good at the piano and had strong knowledge of all the great composers at age 8. She entered the Gifted Education Programme at 10. At 13, she did poorly at group work, often talked about death and the afterlife, and became progressively silent
  • B. A boy walked at 18 months, spoke his first words at 2 , and enjoyed playing Minecraft at 4 together with his friends. He participated at birthday parties. He struggled with composition writing, both for ideas and also for the efforts in writing in school, but managed an AL score of 18 and was promoted to secondary school
  • C. A boy walked at 13 months and was a happy child in preschool. He started speaking at 18 months but did not recognise letters and numbers consistently until 4.5 years of age. He did not read until 7 . He was sometimes forgetful with instructions but did not cause disruption in school, though he was often the clown in class. He tended to not finish his work unless his parents sat with him. Nonetheless, he completed primary school with some extra time for exams and went on to secondary school
  • D. A girl walked at 16 months and was often clumsy though she did not fall. She would bump into things and might drop items in her hands. She disliked writing and was slow to write. She could never complete her work in class. She would shade the wrong answers on the optical answer sheet although she knew the right answers. She had trouble with mathematics thoughout school but she enjoyed reading
Correct Answer: A

Rationale: Option A shows social withdrawal, poor group interaction, and restricted interests (music, death themes), aligning with ASD criteria in DSM-5, unlike the others with more typical development or specific learning/motor issues.