Autism Test; When to seek a neuropsychological evaluation

Autism Test; When to seek a neuropsychological evaluation  (PDF Download)

Autism will never present itself in the exact same way in every child or adult. It’s important to remember while there are common traits and symptoms, each individual will have their own personal representations, both strengths and areas were additional support are needed.

• Avoiding eye contact
• Speech delays or loss of acquired speech
• Lack of empathy
•  Self-stimulatory behavior (stimming); repetitive motions (such as rocking), noises, sounds
• Lacking imitational behavior (ex: smiling back)
• Non responsive behavior to verbal prompts
• Emotional responses not fitting to the situation
• Excessive reactions to external stimuli
• Inability to transition easily from routines
• Atypical sensory interests (smelling, licking non food items)
• Fascinations (specific toys, events, death, objects falling, etc.)
• Resistance to being held or touched
• Preferences to be alone  (in the past called being “aloof”)
• Inability to read facial expression in others
• Inability to recognize personal space
• Unusual finger/hand movements
• Inability to follow hand gestures (such as pointing)
• Texture avoidance (food, clothing, etc.)
• Inability to follow a sequential set of directions
• Fleeing
• Mouthing (objects, self, caregivers, etc.)

If your child shows a few of these more common Autism markers, these are important to document and take with you upon seeking a professional medical diagnosis. Proper documentation of these characteristics can greatly increase the information base for your child, that your doctor will take  and build on. When you are in the process of documentation, there are key things to record.

• When these symptoms presented
• Duration of the symptom
• External triggers
• Specific examples of symptoms

These can be given to your doctor in a variety of ways

• Written
• Audio clips
• Video clips
• Testimony from yourself and others (siblings, grandparents, teachers, etc.)

This checklist is property of Project Special Needs, to be used as an  instrumental tool for self evaluation. This will not replace professional medical intervention, and should not be used as a formal means of diagnosis. Persons who are using this checklist as it was intended, are doing so with the permission of PSN.