Autism Diagnosis: Screening and Testing

There are multiple diagnostic tools that clinicians use to make an ASD diagnosis. The tools help the clinician determine if the child meets certain criteria that indicate the child has autism. The tools typically require the doctor to rank the child on a number of criteria, such as behaviors, past behavior as reported by the parents, and other direct observations. The results and how the child compares with other children with autism and other healthy children indicate whether or not the child has autism.

The tools are helpful because clinicians aren’t just looking for one characteristic to make an ASD diagnosis. In some cases, learning delays alone may be severe enough that a child should be diagnosed with autism. In other cases, a combination of a child having mild learning delays, mild problems socializing, and sometimes making repetitive gestures may lead a doctor to make an ASD diagnosis.

Autism sometimes occurs with other psychiatric diagnoses, such as anxiety disorders or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Most tools involve (and all autism diagnoses should be based on) both input from the child’s parents about behaviors and habits and a clinician’s direct observation of the child. Full evaluations for autism can also involve vision and hearing tests and genetic and neurological testing.

Sometimes pediatricians complete autism evaluations, and in other cases your child’s doctor might recommend that you and your child see a developmental pediatrician, child neurologist, child psychiatrist, or child psychologist who may have more expertise that would be helpful to make an accurate diagnosis (and get your child the help they need).

If your child scores positively on the tests and the results show your child does have autism, the diagnosis is a significant one and can be overwhelming for parents and the entire family, Dr. Veenstra-VanderWeele notes.