Early diagnosis crucial for children with autism

Recently the National Autistic Society launched its Autism Diagnosis Crisis campaign. The campaign states: “This is why we launched the Autism diagnosis crisis campaign in August 2015 – to tell the Government and NHS to prioritise timely autism diagnosis.”
By Jo Worgan
Published 11th Sep 2015, 18:43 BST

What is interesting is they found the average waiting time for children to be diagnosed as 3.5 years. This is from them first going to their GP and asking for the diagnosis process to begin.

Anna Kennedy Online conducted its own survey ‘Autism Diagnosis Survey in the UK’ early last year and it found, on average, children were having to wait five years for a diagnosis. They also launched a petition asking for consistency within the NHS regarding autism diagnosis, the findings of which they presented to Department of Health officials.

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Autism diagnosis times are not recorded as other medical and health procedures are. The NAS is calling on the NHS and Government to change this. There needs to be a comprehensive record of how long adults and children are waiting to receive an autism diagnosis. This would help to improve the service and overall waiting times.

Jo WorganJo Worgan
Jo Worgan

Thousands of NAS supporters signed an open letter to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens, to ask that priority should be given to autism diagnosis with the aim of reducing waiting times. I know first-hand how important early diagnosis is. We were lucky, as my son was diagnosed fairly young, at age three. But this was mainly because we were in the right place at the right time.

We received help, support and specialist services for him. But I didn’t go to my GP; this was through my wonderful children’s centre, heath visitor, specialist outreach worker and fellow parent carers.

Without a diagnosis we would have been lost, and I mean completely lost. This is the sad reality for many families, as they watch their child struggle in nursery and school without support and specialist services. Both the child and parent need to be supported. Early diagnosis is crucial.

Related topics:GovernmentNHSJeremy Hunt