Evaluation of Autism SpEctrum Disorder in children with Cerebral Palsy (EASED-CP)

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is the most common physical disability in childhood and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is one of its most common and impactful comorbidities.

Proper identification of ASD in CP is clinically important but state-of-the-art diagnostic methods rely on behavioural symptoms that overlap with the motor and speech difficulties seen in CP. This makes ASD diagnosis very challenging and limits the validity and usability of standardized clinical instruments.

Consequently, some children with CP go undiagnosed and without important support for their ASD. Others can be falsely diagnosed by, for example, being physically unable to complete assessments. This has detrimental effects and results in resource misallocation. EASED-CP will establish the next-generation gold-standard clinical tools for assessment of ASD symptoms in CP.

Current clinical and research practices for ASD assessment in children with CP will be reviewed and experts surveyed.

Consensus clinical guidelines and an adapted standardized instrument for ASD assessment in CP will be co-developed though a Delphi process, implemented, and tested.

This will be enabled by a cross-cultural international collaboration of pioneers in ASD (University of California San Francisco, outgoing phase), CP (University of Barcelona, return phase) and instrument validation (Hogrefe TEA Ediciones, placement).

My current clinical and research expertise in the psychological characteristics of children with CP, interdisciplinary profile and previous success building international collaborations makes me the perfect fit to lead this project. Through EASED-CP I will connect with a broad international expert network and develop a unique collection of expertise.

This includes completing exceptional-quality training in test-building methods and ASD assessments.

Overall, the cooperation of these leading research centres is expected to have a tremendous impact on the understanding and diagnosis of ASD in CP.