Currently, there is no medical test. No blood screen will show with positivity that your child is autistic. No physical exam will convince anyone that your child is on the autistic spectrum. So, how do doctors diagnose this disorder that affects one out of 110 children today? How do they know, with certainty, that your child is autistic?
Diagnosing autism is a complex job for pediatricians and they must learn all the signs and symptoms to properly diagnose a child and get him the correct therapies for his condition. Although there is no one test that can be done to determine autism, a series of differences in the child will help the doctor to determine if your child is autistic.
A speech and language pattern difference is one of the most common ways a pediatrician will first begin to notice that a child may be autistic. Reaching certain speech and language milestones as an infant helps to determine the mental health of a child; therefore, when these milestones are not met, a doctor must consider that there is a difference in this child and will then (if not before) begin to consider the reasons why. Therapy for speech and language can begin at birth.
Other therapies for autistic children include physical or occupational therapy. These can be beneficial for something that the rest of us considers simple, like correctly holding a pencil. It is known by anyone who deals with autism in their lives, that autistic individuals have trouble holding a pencil/pen even into adulthood and therefore have very poor penmanship.
Therapy to hold the pencil in younger ages can help to give the child confidence in writing and will promote better writing practices in their futures. Autistic children tend to walk just a little differently than do those without the disorder. Physical therapy can help to build the muscles in their legs and allow them to walk more like their peers so that they do not stand out in the crowd. After all, to fit in with their peers is all that most autistic children want.
Research into the cause of a possible cure for autism is ongoing. According to geneticist Dr. Geer of South Carolina, there is promise in this research that leads him to believe that autism is caused by some genetic abnormality. He is currently studying the DNA through blood samples to connect the onset of autism in a child with differences in the genetic pattern of the parent. His research is promising and his hope is that by the time today’s autistic children start having children of their own, a blood test will help to predict autism so that therapy can begin sooner than ever.
Early intervention is important with autism. The earlier the therapy begins, the more likely the child is to reach milestones that are important to a child’s development. Autistic children who reach milestones at the same time as the peers are more likely to be accepted into the peer relationships that are vital to a child’s well being.
Just ten years ago, autism was not diagnosed until the age of three. Now, because of better understanding of the disorder, diagnosis can be as early as 18 months. With ongoing research and more focused studies, the future could hold that diagnosis of autism could happen at birth or even before and we never lose hope, that in finding more information about what causes autism, that there can be a way to relieve the symptoms for those who suffer today.
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