Autism Diagnosis

Recently, there has been an increase in awareness and the improvement of autism diagnosis methods, today you can see children who are diagnosed even before the age of two.

The importance of early diagnosis lies in the window of time created during infancy when there is considerable flexibility in brain development and learning potential, therefore there is an improvement in the results of treatment for children with autism at this stage. As of today, there is no medical test that enables the diagnosis of autism.

The diagnosis is made by the developmental and behavioral assessment of the child paying attention to consistent difficulties in the two main areas, and the sub-sections arising from them.

Core symptom 1 - consistent difficulty in communication and/or social interaction

A. Difficulty maintaining social and emotional reciprocity.

B. Difficulty with non-verbal interaction, such as reading body language, maintaining eye contact and using or interpreting gestures.

C. Difficulty maintaining and understanding relationships and even unwillingness to have relationships at all.

* All three symptoms must be present for diagnosis.

Core symptom 2 - repetitive and narrow patterns of behaviors and/or activities and/or interests

A. Stereotypic - repetitive behaviors such as: repetitive speech (e.g. echolalia - when the child repeats words over and over like an echo), repetitive motor movements (e.g. hand waving), repetitive use of objects (e.g. driving a car back and forth) or idiosyncratic expressions (made-up language that the child uses in it for more than three months).

B. A rigid routine that lacks any flexibility and has ritualistic patterns that manifests itself in a strong resistance to change (picky eating, traveling on a fixed route).

Any deviation from the routine can create a situation of distress.

C. Areas of interest are limited and fixed to an abnormal level, an obsessive attachment to everything related to the field of interest and an overly intense attention to detail.

D. Various sensory and sensory problems, which can manifest as under/over reactivity to pain or temperature, sensitivity to sounds or textures, excessive smelling, touch in objects, great interest in lights or movement.

* At least 2 of the 4 symptoms must be present for a diagnosis

In order to determine that a person suffers from autism, it is necessary to examine that In addition Three more criteria:

A. Some of the symptoms were present in early childhood, even if the diagnosis is made later.

B. The symptoms significantly interfere with daily functioning.

C. The difficulties cannot be attributed only to intellectual disability.