At Help Me Grow Utah, we often have parents who call us and ask about autism. Some parents have seen behaviors that are associated with autism. According to a 2014 study done by Gerteis, Izrael and Deitz, Autism is the 4th most common chronic childhood condition, right after Asthma, Allergies, and Attention deficit disorder. When a parent has questions about Autism, their Parent Support Specialist will help guide them to know what next steps to take. What follows is an outline of our process at Help Me Grow.
- M-CHAT (Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers). If a parent has added their primary care doctor to their record, then a Parent Support Specialist will send them a questionnaire called the M-CHAT. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children take the M-CHAT at their 18 and 24-month well-child exams. The M-CHAT asks questions about a child’s behaviors, such as playing pretend, pointing with one finger, and responding when their name is called.
- Follow-up M-CHAT Interview. It is important to remember that the M-CHAT is only a screening tool, not a diagnostic tool. This means that scoring a certain way on the M-CHAT does not indicate that a child has autism, it just means further questions or evaluation is recommended. If the M-CHAT indicates that the child does have some Autistic tendencies, then the Parent Support Specialist will do a follow-up interview. During the follow-up interview, the Parent Support Specialist will ask for clarification on some of the questions marked.
- Evaluation. Sometimes after the follow-up interview, a Parent Support Specialist will recommend that the parent seeks further evaluation for their child. This further evaluation would happen at another agency (such as Utah Behavioral Services or Alternative Behavior Strategies) and could potentially end in an official diagnosis of autism. Based on a family’s insurance and location, their Parent Support Specialist will recommend a few different locations. Sometimes the waitlists for these locations can be longer, so we might recommend that parents join a few different waitlists.
- Resources. If this process ends in an official diagnosis, or if a parent requests it, the Parent Support Specialist can send parents many different resources for navigating autism. Some of these include ABA Therapy, the Utah Parent Center (a resource where parents support other parents with children who have disabilities), autism speaks (which has different tool kits to help support children with autism), this video on interacting with children who have autism, and many others.
Receiving an autism diagnosis can be a difficult experience for so many reasons. However, once an autism diagnosis has been received a child can be supported and understood in lots of new ways. Resources that are available to those with an official diagnosis can be helpful in meeting a child where they are developmentally. If you have any follow-up questions, please contact a Parent Support Specialist at 801-691-5322
