An ongoing debate continually progresses as health care professionals tackled the issues on having young children screened for autism. It is being pointed out that screening children from 30 months below can ideally give pediatricians a heads up in treating those who were diagnosed with autism.
Most health care providers stated that the screening for autism among young children should entirely be subjective, as it is not applicable to most. There are those however who reiterated that autism screening is beneficial as skipping the autism screening can result to missed opportunities among pediatricians for "early intervention" and possible treatment according to CNN.
"There's not enough evidence for us to recommend for or against screening in children for autism under 30 months," David Grossman, vice chair of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and a Seattle pediatrician told CNN Parents. "Clinicians need to make a judgment on their own about whether to screen. There is no right answer on that."
As per CNN, on in every 45 children are diagnosed with autism in 2014 compared to 2010, which has higher rates with only 1 out of every 68. The continuous increase among children with autism is raising awareness in having it treated as children with autism needs special care and education.
Prior to having their children screened, a data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that most parents with children diagnosed with autism only found out about their child's condition before the child's first birthday. It can usually be detected due to delayed motor skills and speech development among toddlers.
Though it may not be mandatory to have young children screened for autism, Parents mentioned the advantages on having the child checked as early as possible. Early detection means early treatment, giving the pediatrician and the parents more time to place the child in therapy.
