AHRQ Healthcare Horizon Scanning System – Potential High-Impact Interventions Report
Although we performed intensive scanning for interventions and innovations in this priority area, we found a paucity of leads and innovations. The dearth of topics on diagnosis, treatment, and services for developmental disorders including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) implies a lack of progress in basic understanding of these disorders and how to diagnose and treat them.
ASDs, also sometimes referred to as pervasive developmental disorders, are a wide continuum of associated cognitive and neurobehavioral disorders that have three core-defining features: impairments in socialization, impairments in verbal and nonverbal communication, and restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior.