A Pilot Project Using Pediatricians as Initial Diagnosticians in Multidisciplinary Autism Evaluations for Young Children

Keywords

ASD, autism, Initial Diagnosticians, screening tools

Abstract

Objectives:

Wait times for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) evaluations are long, thereby delaying access to ASD-specific services. We asked how our traditional care model (requiring all patients to see psychologists for ASD diagnostic decisions) compared to an alternative model that better utilizes the available clinicians, including initial evaluation by speech, audiology, and pediatrics (trained in Level 2 autism screening tools). Pediatricians could diagnose immediately if certain about diagnosis but could refer uncertain cases to psychology. Accuracy and time to diagnosis, charges, and parent satisfaction were our main outcome measures.

Original Publication Citation

*Ahlers, K. & Gabrielsen, T.P., Ellzey, A., Brady, A., Litchford, A., Fox, J., . . . Carbone, P. (2019) A pilot project utilizing pediatricians as initial diagnosticians in multidisciplinary autism evaluations for young children. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. JDBP, 40(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1097/DBP.0000000000000621

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2019

Publisher

Wolters Kluwer

Language

English

College

David O. McKay School of Education

Department

Counseling Psychology and Special Education

University Standing at Time of Publication

Associate Professor

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