Our daughter does not have a formal autism diagnosis. A little background, she was adopted from India at age 2.5. Initially her communication delay was attributed to English as a Second Language then 6 months after coming home COVID hit, so she didn’t start getting speech therapy or any services until she was 3.5 years old. Fast forward to today, she just turned 7 years old. We have 2-3 word utterances and just got potty trained earlier this year. She has an AAC device we use to assist with communication.
She does not have any real problem behaviors but does have some behaviors off and on like stimming and being withdrawn at times. We have speech therapy two times a week and do physical therapy for some of her other physical needs related to other health concerns. To date, we have been told her behavior is due to being institutionalized at an early age with limited stimulation until she came home with us. We want to get a diagnosis to get her access to ABA and other services she doesn’t get now.
My question is how do we go about getting this diagnosis – reach out to an autism center directly? What are questions we should ask during this process?
Answer:
Thank you for your question! So to get an autism diagnosis first you should go to your daughter's pediatrician. Tell the doctor you have done your research and you believe your daughter has autism and you need a diagnosis to move forward with ABA services. Usually the doctor will ask some questions and observe her. From your description it sounds like you are correct that she has autism and hopefully the pediatrician agrees. The doctor should tell you the next step, usually pediatricians cannot give a formal diagnosis, but will refer you to a developmental pediatrician that can diagnosis her formally. Since she is 7-years-old her school psychologist may also be able to diagnose her, but you would need to confirm that with the school district. I would say call the school and ask, but also make an appointment with the pediatrician. Once you have the diagnosis you can move forward with ABA services.
As far as questions are concerned I think you will come up with them as you go, but I would inquire with the school district about adding the autism diagnosis to her IEP which will give the opportunity for more services than she currently gets. I would also ask the pediatrician for a few developmental pediatrician names because sometimes there are wait lists and some do not accept insurance. Good luck! Keep us updated and let us know if you have any other questions.
Thank you for your question! So to get an autism diagnosis first you should go to your daughter’s pediatrician. Tell the doctor you have done your research and you believe your daughter has autism and you need a diagnosis to move forward with ABA services. Usually the doctor will ask some questions and observe her. From your description it sounds like you are correct that she has autism and hopefully the pediatrician agrees. The doctor should tell you the next step, usually pediatricians cannot give a formal diagnosis, but will refer you to a developmental pediatrician that can diagnosis her formally. Since she is 7-years-old her school psychologist may also be able to diagnose her, but you would need to confirm that with the school district. I would say call the school and ask, but also make an appointment with the pediatrician. Once you have the diagnosis you can move forward with ABA services.
As far as questions are concerned I think you will come up with them as you go, but I would inquire with the school district about adding the autism diagnosis to her IEP which will give the opportunity for more services than she currently gets. I would also ask the pediatrician for a few developmental pediatrician names because sometimes there are wait lists and some do not accept insurance. Good luck! Keep us updated and let us know if you have any other questions.