1. Route of diagnosis for children in the UK

• Get advice from GP, health visitor, a therapist or special education needs co-ordinator staff at the child’s school
• Assessments may take up to 2 to 3 years due to long waiting list.
• Assessments need referred by SENCO or GP
• Waiting time is long and while waiting it’s suggested that people should look for support groups through their GP to the assessment team
• GP might also refer to speech and language therapy
• Find local support group through online government portals
• Autism assessment
  • the assessment team or autism specialist with ask questions and observe child’s interactions with family, teachers and speak to GP
  • it can be 1 or more appointments
  • observe child’s interactions with toys and games
  • ask questions related to when the child started talking and other medical history

Neurodivergence varies from one person to another, hence one person’s treatment will always vary. NHS (2022).

2. Route of diagnosis for children in the USA

There are three phases for the diagnosis:

• Developmental Monitoring
  • By observing how your child grows and whether your child meets the ‘typical developmental milestones’
  • Learn the sign, act early are some free programs run by the government to help parents educate how to move forward in the process of diagnosis
• Developmental Screening
  • This is done by healthcare provider like doctor, nurse, community or at the school settings
• Developmental Diagnosis
  • This phase is a more formal evaluation done by trained specialists for more in-depth look at the child’s development
  • Trained specialists are - developmental paediatrician, child psychologist, speech-language pathologist, occupational therapist.
  • Questionnaires for the child and parents, a structural test, formal evaluation that would highlight the strengths and challenges of the child

There are formal test and genetic counselling that are further pursued for early interventions. Centers for Disease Controls & Prevention (2022).