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Autism diagnosis and intervention is not happening fast enough in Canada, says Dr. Wendy Roberts, autism researcher at Toronto's Sick Children's Hospital. She was discussing a groundbreaking American study in which children as young as 18 months received intensive intervention following the Early Start Denver Model, a method that combines aspects of both social and behavioural therapies. Almost 30 percent of these children improved vastly over the course of two years, compared with only 5 percent of children in a control group referred for traditional intervention in the community.
Roberts emphasized the importance of early detection in helping children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD.) Many children in Canada are not diagnosed until the age of 24 to 48 months, and after diagnosis there is often another long wait before families receive intervention or other necessary services. Like many autism researchers, Roberts advocates routine autism screening for all toddlers, and beginning intensive intervention as soon as there is a suspicion of developmental delay - even before diagnosis is confirmed.
Ontario is about to roll out a comprehensive screening program, but other provinces lag behind. It is not uncommon for children in Montreal to "age off" the waiting list without receiving intensive behaviour-based intervention, or to have to wait several years from the time when parents first report concerns until therapy begins.
Initial screening can be done by a pediatrician or family practitioner at a routine well baby visit, is non-invasive, and takes only a few minutes. Intervention following the Early Start Denver Model involves no medications and is also non-invasive. In many ways it resembles a few hours at preschool each day.
Robyn Young, of Flinders University in South Australia, advocates intervention for children as young as 12 months of age, and expresses no concern that children might be receiving unnecessary treatment. "We have found that kids that went into our program at 12 months of age have not ended up with autism," Young says. "Now, they might not have anyway, but early signs are that we may be able to prevent progression to autism."
Autism is a pervasive developmental delay (PDD) of unknown origins. Children with an autism spectrum disorder are affected in every sphere of life. Autism affects 1 child in every 150.
Parents should report any observed warning signs promptly to their child's doctor, and request the child be screened using the Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (CHAT) tool at the 18-month well baby checkup.
Medical personnel, educators and the general public can make a difference for children with autism by advocating universal screening and beginning intensive intervention as soon as a PDD is suspected.
Comments
Hopefully this will be pushed more now. I'm sure the little ones who end up not actually needing the program receive developmental benefits from the program, so why not do it?
Thank you for the info.
:)
Third culture kids examiner
Seattle stay-at-home moms examiner
That's my feeling too, Amanda. I don't know if there's any research into this, but parents I've spoken to who used their infant stimulation techniques with subsequent neurotypical children have said they found these kids were more advanced. I've never heard of any ill-effects, and the cost of providing therapy to a child who doesn't need it is likely far offset when we look at autistic kids who need fewer interventions in home, school & later adult life.
During our research for our autism book, we found most parents echoed similar outcries: doctors belittling their worries that the child might be autistic, long waiting periods for a diagnosis, longer waiting periods to begin therapies - unless they paid for therapies but even then - not understanding why the government here in Montreal funds only to the age of 6.
When we began writing our book almost 2 years ago the rates were 1 in 150 children. Recently we read it's dropped to 1 in 98 I believe.
This is horrific but more than that it's a Greek tragedy when the government completely ignores these parents and their needs to improve services, faster turnaround time, and financial aid.
Lea,
The delays in diagnosis seem to be fairly common across North America. Doctors are reluctant to stick such young children with a diagnosis, but they do no service in delaying investigation & referral. Especially for those children with very signs of severe or even moderate developmental delay.
Autism is a diagnosis of exclusion in many places, and doctors feel obliged to submit our children to any number of tests to rule out other possibilities. Our son was submitted to sedation and radiation (CAT scans,) blood tests, and probing by a multidisciplinary team over a period of several months before we were allowed to apply (& wait some more!) for services.
We were then referred to a second facility where we were required to have him diagnosed again. The difference is, there a small team spent maybe 1-1/2 hours with us, and was able to give us their opinion on the spot. If we'd been referred there originally the wait would have been almost eliminated!
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