Screening for Autism

It is surprising to me that screening for autism does not take place, even today, at all those wellness visits to the family doctor's office in the child's first two years. The numbers, they say, currently stand at 1:150 for children diagnosed with autism in Canada. That's amazing statistics but even more amazing is how the red flags for autism do not get the physician's attention until the child is 18 months and still not saying words. Even then, in my case, the referral was given only to a speech therapist, who immediately settled into a speech intervention plan. Did these professionals not notice my child displaying some unusual behaviours and so recommend that he should also be checked by a developmental paediatrician? Looking back, I can see how much precious time was wasted through all these could-have-done-more medical attention my child received in his early years. Those with Asperger Syndrome, in some cases, I'm told, they recieve their diagnosis even later. They are so verbally advanced that their other needs e.g. their lack of skills at social interactions get placed on the back burner until they become older and are found to be running into trouble at school etc. Children on the spectrum need the earliest possible intervention, they all say, but how does one get the treatment for your child if he or she is not diagnosed until they are older and their troubles become obvious to the observant. I think its critical for all new parents to insist on a screening for autism during the wellness visits to the doctor in order to get the earliest possible medical treatment.