The first steps towards diagnosis begin at home. Parents must become very familiar with the symptoms of autism listed on this site. As soon as they realize that their child is exhibiting a number of the symptoms regularly, they need to take their child to see the pediatrician immediately. The earlier they recognize the disorder, the greater the chances are for treatments to be effective.

 

In order for a child to get a proper, accurate diagnosis, they must be diagnosed by a certified pediatrician or neurological specialist, who will give the child a developmental evaluation. In California, any parent can call up their local regional center to provide a diagnosis for their child, and some schools have even been known to perform the evaluations as well. The specialist will spend hours evaluating a child to see if it is autism that is affecting them at all. Some commonly used measures are CHAT (checklist for autism in toddlers), CARS (child autism rating scale), ADOS (Autistic Diagnostic Observation Scale) and GARS (Gilliam Autism Rating Scale). In combination with these, a specialist may also use the ADI-R (Autism Diagnostic Interview – Revised), which is a parent or caretaker interview. The child assessments allow the doctor to study behavioral patterns and look for a lack of certain functional skills.

 

There is no single factor that determines whether or not a child has autism. A specialist will look for a combination of the autism symptoms within a child, and measure their severity and frequency of occurrence to determine if the child has autism or not. A number of patients diagnosed with autism may also have other disabilities or developmental problems as well, which makes diagnosis even trickier. The specialist may spend a large portion of his or her time determining whether it is autism or another disability that is making a child act or behave in a certain way.   

 

Parents should become very “buddy-buddy” with their child’s pediatrician or specialist in order for both parties to engage in the situation with the utmost efficiency. Efficiency in regards to an autism diagnoses is letting the pediatrician know ALL the information behind a child’s make-up (child’s actions, behaviors, and family medical history). All these bits of information will help the specialist in their diagnosis.

Sources:

 

[Dodd, Susan. Understanding Autism. Australia: Elsevier, 2005. pp.117-119]