Repetition: The patient might display repetitive stereotyped movements, or tics, like hand flapping.Two of these four criteria must be present to merit an autism diagnosis: It is common for an individual on the autism spectrum to be more comfortable with people much older or much younger, but have trouble connecting with peers. Developing, maintaining and understanding relationships are a significant challenge for the patient, especially relationships with peers.Nonverbal social communication: The patient has difficulty making eye contact, respecting personal space, understanding gestures, and registering facial expression or tone of voice.Social reciprocity: The patient struggles with back-and-forth social communication she is unable to share thoughts and feelings and then to listen to the other person and be aware of what’s important to him or her.In addition to knowing the criteria, diagnosing clinicians should also be familiar with the supplemental information on ASD diagnosis included in the DSM-5.Īll of these three criteria must be present to merit an autism diagnosis: Professionals should diagnose a patient with autism if the DSM-5 criteria are present. What are the criteria for an autism diagnosis? Since ASD presents with multiple behavioral characteristics, professionals often miss the big picture of autism and, instead, diagnose small pieces of the picture separately - for example, obsessive compulsive disorder ( OCD), social anxiety, eating disorder, bipolar disorder, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD or ADD). While “autism awareness” is growing - it’s tough to find an individual who doesn’t know the word and doesn’t understand that it’s an impactful public health condition - what we’re really lacking is holistic “autism recognition.” Few medical professionals and mental health care professionals can confidently say: “I know what autism looks like in the classroom, in the medical clinic, in families, and in neighborhoods.” We are much quicker to think that behavior is a reflection of discipline or a person’s character. As a culture, we’re still working to understand that the brain impacts behavior and interactions. Q: “Why is an autism diagnosis so complicated?”Ī: The diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were not published in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual 1 until the 1980s, and even then the medical community’s understanding of autism was not complete - it was actually still hypothesized 40 years ago that ASD was related to poor parenting.
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