A lot of people may be wondering... How is Autism Diagnosed?

I admit, I have wondered this since I was a young child. I always wondered how my parents came to find out how my brother was different than the other children my age. I recently just asked my dad how my brother started showing signs of being different from the normal toddler. His response to my question was shorter than I expected. He just shrugged his shoulders and explained to me how he learned to talk two years later than the normal toddler, he didn't potty-train very well, and he wasn't as social as a normal boy his age should be. His answer sparked an interest for me to look how the doctors actually diagnose Autism and Autism spectrum disorders..

I went back and did some research on my newest favorite website Autism Speaks. As you all know, I just found this website a few weeks ago and wrote about it in my previous post. This website has everything! I was thrilled to find out it actually had a section about how autism is diagnosed in children. Now, all of my questions could be answered and cleared up.

To my surprise, I found that there was actually no medical test to diagnose autism. Behavior tests and psychological tests are conducted on the children to see if there is some sort of delay in the child's development. The website suggests that all children from right when they are born to the age of about 36 months should be screened for developmental milestones on routine visits to the pediatrician. If the doctors have any questions or doubts about a child, the child should be referred to some sort of specialist. A child can go through tests such as hearing tests, lead exposure screenings, and something called the MCHAT. The MCHAT is the Modified Checklist of Autism in Toddlers. This tests includes simple questions about the toddler.

In my next post, I will go into more detail about the development of toddlers with autism.