Free Autism Screening Tools
Autism or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is quite difficult to diagnose. What plays a key role in the diagnosis is a close assessment of the child's behavior and development history performed by the doctor. Besides the regular developmental surveillance, The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends screening kids for autism before they are 2 years of age to identify significant developmental and behavioral problems on time. This calls for an efficient autism screening tool.
What is an Autism Screening Tool?
Autism Screening Tools are different tools, ranging from questionnaires about your child to brief tests and carefully prepared checklists that are used for an extensive developmental and behavioral screening of the child. Based on medical research, the tools are designed to identify kids with certain development delays by asking questions about their overall mental and physical growth, language, emotions, thinking, movement, and behavior. The two most widely-accepted autism screening tools include M-CHAT and STAT.
M-CHAT
The Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers is a free autism screening tool that consists or 23 questions regarding the behavior of your child and is designed for kids between 16-30 months. The results of the checklist can be used to discuss any concerns further with your child's doctor. It is filled out by parents, and helps pediatricians to initiate conversations about any possible next steps if a kid is at risk with additional developmental and genetic testing.
STAT
The Screening Tool for Autism in Toddlers & Young Children is designed to screen children for autism between 24- 36 months of age. The STAT takes around 20 minutes to administer and consists of 12 different items that assess major social and communicative abilities of the child including play, imitation, directing attention, and requesting. Learning to administer the STAT helps parents in identifying need for an autism diagnosis for a child at an early age, further refering them for expert assessment.
For your connivence we provide a free M-CHAT-R test for you to better understand your child's development. Click below to start the questionnaire.