背景:自閉症為兒童早期即出現社會互動、溝通表達的困難，對某些事物有強烈的執著性、要求同一性等現象。於兒童2歲時，可經由經驗豐富的專業人士診斷出來，然而，許多患有自閉症的兒童直到學齡期才被診斷出來，因此及早診斷出自閉症並讓其進行早療尤為重要。
目的:探討影響自閉症兒童關注、診斷年齡和早療年齡的因素。
方法:本文使用橫斷面研究(Cross-sectional Survey)分析2007年至2012年特殊教育長期追蹤資料庫3-15歲(3歲至國三)初次診斷為自閉症的兒童第一次調查的家長問卷。本研究的架構一是探討台灣自閉症兒童個人特徵和家庭特徵與自閉症診斷和早療年齡之間的相關性。架構二是自閉症兒童個人特徵和家庭特徵與初次父母關注之間的相關性，以及父母初次對醫療人員反應的特殊關注類型是否與三個年齡結果具相關性。
結果:本研究自閉症兒童平均初次父母關注年齡為2.4歲、診斷年齡3.71歲、早療年齡3.27歲；合併智能障礙、領有身心障礙手冊及等級越高者有較早年齡結果；父母回報有語言問題和醫療問題者有較早年齡結果；相反的，父母回報有非語言問題和行為問題者有較晚年齡結果。
結論:台灣57﹪的自閉症兒童於3歲前得到診斷，仍有近半數未於3歲前診斷出來，由此反映提升父母對自閉症認識的重要性，並提醒醫療人員更加關心父母初期回報的問題。本研究因資料庫限制會有回憶偏差及缺乏臨床證據，建議未來可與醫療機構合作，進一步探討臨床症狀與初次自閉症關注、診斷和早療年齡，加深和臨床的合作。

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) encompasses a set of complex neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by deficits in social communication and social interaction, as well as restricted or repetitive behaviors or interests. This study uses a cross-sectional survey to analyze the parent questionnaire of the first survey of children with autism diagnosed for the first time from 2007 to 2012 in the Special Needs Education Longitudinal Study(SNELS).In this study, the average age of first-time parental concern of children with autism was 2.4 years old, the age of diagnosis was 3.71 years old, and the age of early treatment was 3.27 years old; those with intellectual disabilities, those with a disability card and higher grades had earlier age results; parents reported language problems and medical problems had earlier age outcomes; in contrast, parents reported nonverbal and behavioral problems with later age outcomes. 57% of Taiwanese children with autism were diagnosed before the age of 3, and nearly half were not diagnosed before the age of 3. This reflects the importance of raising parents' awareness of autism, and reminds medical personnel to pay more attention to the initial return of parents.

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