Development and evaluation of an expert system for the diagnosis of child autism.

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the development of an expert system for the diagnosis of child autism and discusses potential benefits of its implementation in a clinical environment. The development of the expert system was based on a diagnostic algorithm supported by a developmental scale (PEDS) and a diagnostic tool of autism (CARS). Twelve nurses who work in pediatric hospital were asked to use the expert system for a session of 30 minutes and were asked to assess its usefulness, usability and diagnostic value. The majority of nurses agree that it is a useful and promising diagnostic tool for the clinical practice and for the identification of potential child autism cases.