This is a question I hear over and over, especially as it seems that more and more people are getting their children tested earlier and earlier.
The short answer is both yes and no. You can have them tested, but, don’t expect the school system to do it for you before they start school. There is not a general test for autism given to everyone by any school system to my knowledge. Many school systems won’t offer to conduct a test unless there is a clear need, so you will most likely need to request it, or a teacher will request it based upon initial testing they perform in the classroom, or observations of students in the classroom.
In our cases (since we have multiple children on the spectrum), each of our children were tested for Autism before school started. One was at the recommendation of their preschool. As a preschool, they performed several tests on all of their children for academic, physical, social, and other traits. This is how we learned that our child might be on the spectrum.
Our school system agreed to perform the test, however they focused first on the children already in the school system, rather than those getting ready to enter, and finally those a year or two a way from kindergarten. Because of this, it took six to nine months so they could work their backlog, but since our child was 4, we were still able to get him tested before he started school.
Because our first son was on the spectrum, they asked us if we wanted to have out second son tested as well when he was older. At the time and in our school district, you had to be at least three years old. Once again, due to the backlog, it took nearly six months to have him tested. It was a little faster as they were testing siblings, trying to find commonality at the time. So once again he was tested before he started school.
However, we moved about a year after our third son was born and found out that not all school systems do the same thing. For our youngest, if we wanted the school to test him, we’d have to wait until he was in kindergarten. Since we knew he was most likely on the spectrum, or had some other developmental delay since he was completely non-verbal at the time, we had a private psychologist do an official test. In our area, a pediatrician or GP (general practitioner – AKA family doctor) cannot make an autism diagnosis. They can suggest you take your child to be officially tested and give a referral, but our school system will only take an official diagnosis from a psychologist.
So we were able to get all of our children tested before they started school, but it was because we asked for the test. This allowed them access to early pre-k classes designed for special needs children and started them on speech and occupational therapy which were the areas they needed the most assistance. It helped get them started a little earlier, so they weren’t starting so far behind their peers.
If you think your child might be on the spectrum and needs to be tested, we recommend seeing your normal pediatrician and seeing if they can write a referral. If you have to see a private specialist, and are afraid your insurance won’t cover it, see if the doctor can “prescribe” it. Sometimes if they write a letter, it will be accepted, or in some cases, your school system might be willing to do it if they have a referral, like we had for our fist two sons.
Early intervention is key with those on the autism spectrum. Even if you don’t get an autism diagnosis, a developmental delay diagnosis can get you access to the all-important IEP where you can get assistance and accommodations for your child in school.
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