Parents should raise concerns about their child’s behavior and development to their child’s pediatrician or healthcare provider. Children should have developmental surveillance done by their healthcare provider at every well child visit. Your child’s healthcare provider should look for any delays in development or social interaction.
There are several “red flags” for ASDs that you and your child’s healthcare provider can look for, such as if the child:
- does not babble or coo by 12 months of age
- does not gesture (point, wave, grasp, etc.) by 12 months of age
- does not say any single words by 16 months of age
- does not say two word phrases on his or her own by 24 months of age
- has ANY loss of ANY language or social skill at ANY age
Evaluation
The evaluation of a child with signs or symptoms of ASDs should be done by an
autism specialist who has expertise in caring for children with ASDs. This can be a pediatric neurologist, a developmental/behavioral pediatrician, or a child psychiatrist. The autism specialist may enlist other professionals to assist with the evaluation and treatment plan for your child. These professionals may include speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and child psychologists. Other professionals who may also be involved in developing a treatment plan for your child include people with expertise in certain autism specific therapies, such as Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), Floortime, and TEACCH.
Children undergoing an evaluation should have comprehensive testing of their speech, language, and communication skills, their cognitive (problem solving) skills, and their academic skills (if children are school aged). Typically, blood is drawn to test for the known genetic causes of ASDs.