Psychiatric pathology evaluation using the ChA-PAS (version for children and adolescents of the PAS-ADD) among children and young people with severe and profound intellectual disability

Abstract

Abstract: Mental disability referred to here as Intellectual Developmental Disorder (IDD), according to the ICD-11 working group, shows a high prevalence of associated psychiatric morbidity that is poorly diagnosed. The dual diagnosis perspective in IDD seeks to clarify this situation in the overall framework of the difficulties presented by individuals with IDD. This article presents the data from use of a tool designed to detect psychiatric pathology in children and young people with IDD, the ChA-PAS (Child Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment Schedules), and evaluates the consistency of the results of the ChA-pAS with psychiatric diagnoses previously reached clinically. In the results, the vast majority of the study population (91%) presents psychiatric illness associated with IDD, with a predominance of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The prevailing condition in individuals with profound IDD is ASD, while in individuals with severe IDD, ADHD is most common. The degree of agreement with prior clinical diagnoses was 100%, which supports the hypothesis that ChA-PAS is a useful tool in assessment of this population. We conclude that even with suitable tools, assessment of individuals with IDD, especially severe and profound IDD, is always a challenge. Using new tools and translating, calibrating and validating them for the Portuguese population could be of benefit to people with IDD.