Autism Assessment for Children and Teens
Are you concerned that your child is not cooing, saying their first words, making eye contact or interested in engaging with others? Is your child missing important milestones that other children of the same age already reached such as rolling over, grabbing, crawling, or walking? Getting your child assessed for Autism Spectrum Disorder early has significant benefits to your child’s development, gives you and your child access to important resources, and enables them to get additional academic support.
What is Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)?
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) refers to a broad range of conditions which are characterized by challenges with social interactions, language non-verbal communication, sensory sensitivities and more.
Autism can be noticed in children as young as 12 months, and a diagnosis at 2 years old is considered to be highly reliable. Diagnosing autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be difficult because there are no medical tests to easily confirm the presence of the disorder. Instead, trained psychologists look at a person’s developmental history, social and communication behaviours, emotional control, sensory sensitivities and other common characteristics associated with people on the spectrum.
Early Signs of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
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Avoiding Eye Contact
Children with autism can struggle to maintain eye contact with others. Examples include not looking when their name is called or refraining from eye contacting while eating or speaking.
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Hyperactivity
Children on the spectrum sometimes display hyperactivity, attention problems and impulsivity, which is often due to the overwhelming number of external stimuli and a poor understanding of social expectations.
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Delayed Speech
Children with autism often display delayed speech development, poor understanding of body language and gestures, and low interest in communicating or learning from others.
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Emotional Outbursts
Children on the spectrum often display poor emotional regulation skills and will experience emotional outbursts when there are changes to their routine or when unexpected situations occur.
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Repetitive Movements
Children with autism often engage in repetitive movements or stimming behaviours to self soothe and regulate, especially when there is a large influx of external stimuli.
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Rejecting Cuddles
A common characteristic in autism is an increased sensitivity to touch and taste. Children with autism are often overwhelmed by being touched and will reject cuddles from family and friends.
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Sensory Sensitivity
Loud sounds, bright lights, and strong smells are often very overwhelming for a child with autism and may result in increased anxiety, irritability, and frustration.
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Likes to Play Alone
Children with autism can enjoy their own company over the company of others, usually choosing to play alone in quiet areas away from other children and adults.
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Lining Up Their Toys
Children on the spectrum often find comfort in spending hours carefully lining up their toys and stuffed animals, sometimes sorting them by color and size.
Autism in Girls
Historically, most testing and diagnostic criteria have always been geared towards how autism presents itself in boys. As a result, girls are often overlooked or told that they don’t “seem autistic”. Autism presents itself differently in girls, who are under much more pressure to fit in socially than boys, causing them to become experts at imitating others and masking their own struggles. Women on the spectrum often force themselves to maintain eye contact, learn to imitate other people’s expressions and emotions, develop less noticeable stimming behaviours like hair twirling, and prepare dialogue ahead of time to increase the chances of successful social interactions.
Masking behaviours can make it very hard to diagnose girls on the spectrum, many of which don’t receive a diagnosis until much later in life. Additionally, constant masking takes its toll on girls. The constant effort to “fit in” impacts every part of a girl’s life and can lead to additional challenges such as anxiety and depression.
Receiving a diagnosis can have extremely positive effects on girls with autism – it provides a sense of relief, legitimizes their feelings, helps them understand themselves, and gives them access to important support programs and resources.
Why Get an Autism Diagnosis?
Early Intervention
Early diagnosis and intervention for autism has been shown to improve learning, language development communication, social skills, and general brain development.
Access to Resources
Getting a diagnosis allows for you and your child to access helpful resources, academic support programs, social support, disability benefits and discrimination protections.
Self-Acceptance
Especially important for those on the high-functioning end of the spectrum, a diagnosis provides a sense of relief and self-acceptance towards characteristics which may have previously been associated with personal flaws, or a low self esteem.