You know something is wrong, but you don’t know how to go about getting an official diagnosis. Sometimes it isn’t as simple as going to your child’s primary care doctor. The following is a basic guide to help.
Step 1: Developmental Monitoring
This is done through caregivers and it’s when you look for developmental milestones. Usually this is done from birth to around 5 years of age. Milestones can be categorized also as Behavioral Cusps. A Behavioral Cusp is any change which can provide the child opportunities to access new environments and contingencies, all which lead them to learn new behaviors and grow. These Cusps or Milestones are celebrated by families and are talked with your child’s doctor during their yearly scheduled visits.
Developmental Monitoring includes Milestones such as (but not limited to):
– First words
– Beginning to smile
– Standing up and sitting down on their own
– First steps
– Orienting their head towards sounds
– Looking at themselves in the mirror and recognizing themselves
– Tracking items and movements with their eyes
When you notice that your child has not meet a Milestone during an expected time frame, usually parents assume that it is delayed, something which is very common, either because they have had the same happen with themselves, their other children or have heard from other parents. However, because these Milestones are talked about with your doctor, they are something which are tracked. If your child does not meet a Milestone within a given time frame, then a Developmental Screening is conducted.
Step 2: Developmental Screening
A Screening is done through your healthcare provider (doctor), a teacher or a trained professional where the individual looks for specific developmental Milestones and conducts a medical screening to assess whether the missing of a Milestone should be looked at into further detail. While selective screenings were done at specific ages previously, professionals now days do a Developmental Screening at the age of 9, 18 and 30 months and an Autism Screening during the 18- and 24-month mark. While your healthcare provider may not be trained in diagnosing a developmental delay, they are able to assess whether one may potential be there and are then able to provide a referral to other professionals for specific evaluations.
Below are some commonly used Screening Tools:
– Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ)
– Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (CSBS)
– Parents Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS)
– Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddles (M-CHAT)
– Screening Tol for Autism in Toddlers and Young Children (STAT)
Step 3: Diagnostic Evaluation
Once a referral from your doctor to a Specialist occurs, you are then able to get an official evaluation for a developmental diagnosis from either a Ph D. Psychologist or a Neurologist. An evaluation will include not only the original Developmental Screening but also a Comprehensive Diagnostic Evaluation. A Comprehensive Evaluation is required by many insurance companies and therefor is highly recommended, to make sure development is looked at from all angles.
A Comprehensive Diagnostic Evaluation is one which will look at the child’s behavior and development through both a parent interview and direct observation and assessment of the child. This can include a hearing and vision screening, genetic testing and neurological testing.
The most commonly used Evaluations include:
– Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS)
– Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS/ADOS-2)
– Autism Diagnosis Interview (ADI-R)
– Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (GARS-2)
Through the combination of two or more Evaluations listed above (among a few others) an official diagnosis can be given for Autism Spectrum Disorder. Along with the diagnosis, a level will also be associated, ranging from Level 1-3 with 3 being Severe and 1 being Mild (Level 2- Moderate).
Recommendations for therapies, along with the number of recommended hours will also be given. The most common therapy referrals being Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) alongside others being Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy.
It is recommended that your child get a “renewed” diagnosis every 3-5 years to assess whether no comorbid diagnosis exist, the Autism diagnosis is still accurate and whether there are any changes to severity levels (which can occur due to ongoing therapy).
Further Assessment
Now that you have an official diagnosis, you are able to look into a variety of clinics to help you child. However, before starting any (therapies), the clinic/school will do a secondary assessment of their own. This Assessment will provide an insight onto the Barriers your child has within each of the Autism Categories/Subcategories. By doing this Assessment, a treatment plan will be created which will include specific skills which need to be taught to your child.
We at Aheed have developed a web-based ABA software that allows parents and clinical staff to access and share information across all areas with ease from development a treatment plan and day to day evaluation.
Gives a call and we can talk about how our ABA software can help your clinic to better focus on client/treatment development, while making sure all involved in the patient’s treatment are in communication.