Free Autism Screenings For Arizona Children

By on December 7, 2020 0 752Views

Autism screening can lead to early intervention and help for children. Parents who have concern that their children may have autism can start with a ten-minute screening process phone call.

Professionals recommend a visit with a pediatrician, but doctors have their full plates with the pandemic and many families are putting off visits to doctor’s offices at this time.

“They make sure the child is healthy and moving forward, but they may not always have the time to devote to a full developmental screening,” Dr. Christopher Smith, vice president and research director at Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center, said.

In the screening phone calls, technicians will not ask parents about their child’s behavior in the Easy Access Autism Screening. The telephone Screening takes approximately 10-30 minutes, depending on the age of your child and the responses to our questions. Thanks to generous funding from the Southern Arizona Community Foundation, there is no cost to families. Parents will have the opportunity to speak to an experienced staff member who will rely on a standardized valid procedure to determine if families should seek a formal evaluation.

“It’s really just asking about certain skills that kids should be demonstrating by certain ages,” Smith said.

“Identifying kids as young as possible gives people with autism the best chances to reach their full potential,” Smith said.

“Parents will respond with, ‘Oh no, my child’s not doing that yet,’ or, ‘Sometimes I see this,’ or ‘Yeah, we see this all the time and there’s nothing to worry about here,’” Smith said.

Learn more online or call 602-218-8204.