Saturday, January 7, 2012

Autism Check List: A Complex Diagnosis


Most of us know, but there's always someone other there who needs to learn. So I'm posting 
A recent ASD checklist from the LA Times series I've been sharing. Knowing how critical early intervention is I felt compelled to share this easy tool. 
Autism Check List: A Complex Diagnosis 
There is no blood test or other biological marker for autism. Doctors rely on their own observations and what parents tell them. Psychiatry's guidebook, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, lays out the criteria. Many autistic traits and behaviors are seen in children without autism or with other conditions. Only in sufficient numbers and specific combinations do they add up to a diagnosis on the autism spectrum.
The three most common diagnoses on the spectrum are autistic disorderAsperger's disorder and — for children who don't qualify for those — pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS). As this interactive checklist illustrates, there are many ways to arrive at each, and how a child is classified can amount to a judgment call. Answer questions by clicking below or select a hypothetical case to explore how a diagnosis is reached.


http://www.latimes.com/news/local/autism/interactive/

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