{"id":1232,"date":"2019-06-29T12:39:59","date_gmt":"2019-06-29T12:39:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/?p=1232"},"modified":"2022-07-27T09:29:10","modified_gmt":"2022-07-27T09:29:10","slug":"two-simple-steps-to-diagnose-autism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/two-simple-steps-to-diagnose-autism\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Simple Steps To Diagnose Autism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/what-is-autism-spectrum-disorder\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Autism Spectrum Disorder<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> isn\u2019t a condition that can be diagnosed with a blood test. So parents can only begin to notice a difference as the child develops. Only a thorough clinical assessment of the child\u2019s behavior can help diagnose Autism. The symptoms start to appear by the age of 18 months, at which point, experienced autism professionals can arrive at a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/about-autism\/diagnosing-team-for-autism\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">diagnosis<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Despite this, often, autistic children may not be diagnosed until they\u2019re much older, or their symptoms are more prominent. Hence, they may not receive the right intervention at the right time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Centers for Disease Control &amp; Prevention (CDC)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, states that there are two simple steps to diagnose Autism :<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Developmental Screening<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Comprehensive Diagnostic Evaluation<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>What is Developmental Screening?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A screening is a concise test which segregates the target population from the rest. A developmental screening can determine whether a child is able to learn basic age appropriate skills. The examiner may play with the child, to see the way they respond, learn, behave interact &amp; move. They may even ask the parents certain basic questions regarding the child. As compared to a neurotypical, or the reference scores, any delay in these aspects of development could be considered as a red flag.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The CDC advises that all children be screened for developmental delays and disabilities during regular well-child doctor visits at:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">9 months<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">18 months<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">24 or 30 months<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An additional screening is advised if there are known birth discrepancies\u00a0 such as low birth weight, preterm birth, epilepsy, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It also advises that all children should be screened specifically for ASD during regular check-ups visits at:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">18 months<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">24 months<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additional screening is advised if a child is at high risk for ASD, such as having a sister, brother or other family members with an ASD, or has certain associated symptoms of ASD.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>What is Comprehensive Diagnostic Evaluation?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During the screening, if the doctor sees any signs of a problem, a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation is needed. This includes a thorough evaluation of the child\u2019s behavior, development &amp; a detailed interview with the parents. It may also include a hearing and vision screening, genetic testing, neurological testing, and other medical testing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This further assessment &amp; diagnosis can be done by specialists such as:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Developmental <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/pediatricians\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pediatricians<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (doctors who have special training in child development and children with special needs)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/pediatric-neurologists\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Paediatric Neurologists<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (doctors who work on the brain, spine, and nerves)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Paediatric <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/psychologists\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Psychologists<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or Psychiatrists (doctors who know about the human mind)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/about-autism\/diagnosing-team-for-autism\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Learn more about the other tests to Diagnose Autism.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Autism Spectrum Disorder isn\u2019t a condition that can be diagnosed with a blood test. So parents can only begin to notice a difference as the child develops. Only a thorough [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[146,100,104,105],"tags":[11,274,316,317,318],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1232"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1232"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1235,"href":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1232\/revisions\/1235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autismconnect.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}