Early Diagnosis |
 | Intervention |
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| Early Diagnosis |
Early diagnosis allows the family to better understand their child, thus reducing stress and family conflict. An accurate diagnosis not only benefits the family, it also allows schools to become familiar with the child’s needs and to develop strategies to enable the child to be included in school life more fully. It also enables the school to develop appropriate educational strategies to maximize the child’s opportunities to learn. Research continues to show that the earlier a child can begin receiving intervention for their symptoms of autism the better his/her prognosis.
ASDs can be detected as early as 18 months of age. All children should be monitored for developmental milestones, but those children in high-risk groups, such as siblings of autistic children, should be watched particularly closely.
Autism is not diagnosed by a single medical test or a brief observation. It requires a combination of screening and surveillance and subjective, comprehensive evaluation including clinical observations, parent interviews, developmental histories, psychological testing, and speech and language assessments. There are two distinct types of assessment for a diagnosis: educational verification and medical diagnosis.
An educational verification is a process conducted by a school district to determine if a student has a disability and to plan appropriate services to address the student’s individual needs. The verification will reflect assessments done by a multidisciplinary team. Verification is based on an educational model. For a more detailed description and information please refer to State Information under Local Resources.
A medical diagnosis is based on clinical observation by a developmental pediatrician, psychologist, psychiatrist, or other Licensed Mental Health Professional (LMHP). Such a diagnosis is guided by the criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV) and based on a medical model that takes a child’s medical, behavioral and communication status; family history; and developmental progress into account. Children who receive a medical diagnosis will still require an educational verification to consider eligibility for special education programs.
Please refer to our Resource Center page for more information about diagnostics in Nebraska and southwest Iowa.
(Sources: Some information on this page was provided by The National Autism Association, Kyle’s Treehouse, the American Psychiatric Association and the Department of Health and Human Services.)