Reply to Steps for getting evaluated for 4 year old for potential autism

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Just FYI - Children's is no longer evaluating children for autism who are older than 4 (48 months).[/quote]

Really? Any sources? Why?  DD did the evaluation spring 2024 when she was age 5 at children hospital. She got provisional autism diagnosis. [/quote]

from the Children’s website:

“ CASD, along with many other autism centers nationwide, is struggling to meet our community’s evaluation needs. We currently have waitlists that exceed two years for many services and have made the difficult decision to temporarily close our evaluation waitlists. At this time, we are only able to accept referrals for patients requiring evaluation related to gender and autism care needs or young children (children below 48 months) with autism concerns requiring initial diagnostic evaluation. This decision was made to help encourage families to seek services elsewhere in the community because we are unable to offer them in a reasonable timeframe. It will also allow our team to work on new models of care that will enable us to support more families in the future.”

Reading between the lines - the “worried well” are likely clogging up the system seeking out “full neuropsychs” for their kids with very low support needs - the consequences of the lowered DSM-V standards in action. So Children’s has opted to focus on the younger kids who are likely to have more severe needs and actually need the resources. [/quote]

Absolutely, kids that get diagnoses before age 4 are likely to have higher support needs than children where autism concerns emerge later. However, to suggest that any family with a child over age 4 concerned about autism is just the "worried well" is patently false and offensive. That's your interpretation and is not at all what I infer from the Children's statement.[/quote]

I bet a LOT if you asked the Children’s administrators and clinicians that is exactly what they would say: there is a flood of anxious parents with kids barely on the spectrum on the wait list, meaning that kids that are more in need have a harder time than they should getting seen. and they almost certainly mean the schools when they talk about other “community resources.” [/quote]

There are mountains of research that contradict your implication that kids that don't get a diagnosis before age 4 don't really need a diagnosis and don't actually need any support. That is why I doubt that experts at Children's would so much as imply this because I can't imagine they believe it. And again, I think it's a reasonable choice to focus on evaluating younger kids as one of the two major places that takes insurance.[/quote]

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