Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life. Autism is four times more prevalent in boys than girls and knows no ethnic, social, or economic boundaries.
Autism is a neurological disorder affecting the functioning of the brain, which prevents children from understanding what they see, hear and sense. It interferes with normal brain development affecting areas of reasoning, social interaction, and communication. It is a spectrum disorder, which means there is a wide variation in how autism occurs.
In the last two decades, there has been increasing interest in autism by health, social service and educational professionals. Dramatically rising rates of autism, along with a rapidly changing research environment, have made government and health partners aware of areas to address, such as social policy, funding allocation, and health care initiatives.
Planning for Autism Services
The Ministry of Health Planning is one of four ministries actively involved in the Inter-ministerial Autism Coordinating Committee. The other ministries participating in the Committee are Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, and Ministry of Children and Family Development.
The purpose of the Committee is to ensure coordination and collaboration between ministries involved in policy, support, assessment and treatment services for children with autism and their families.
The Ministry of Attorney General and the Ministry of Finance also support the work of the Committee.
Looking Back
The field of autism has become of increasing interest to health, social service and educational professionals in the last two decades. Dramatically rising rates of identification along with a rapidly changing research milieu has raised a number of pressing questions for government in terms of social policy, funding allocation, and health care initiatives.
A priority was to establish a common definition of autism, and common language, assessment practices, and eligibility for autism services. Another priority was to enhance regional capacities to complete multidisciplinary assessments and diagnosis.
Who Provides Diagnostic Assessments?
The Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) provides diagnostic and functional assessments for children and youth with suspected ASD. PHSA developed the British Columbia Autism Assessment Network (BCAAN) to ensure children and youth throughout BC receive valid and reliable diagnostic assessments, and functional assessments for intervention planning, in an appropriate, efficient, effective and timely way.
For information regarding assessments and diagnosis contact:
Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) - Autism
For information regarding intervention contact:
Ministry of Children and Family Development - Autism
For information regarding educational services contact:
Ministry of Education - Special Education - Autism
Standards and Guidelines
In the past, diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in young children in B.C. has not had a quality assurance system. New provincial standards and guidelines will support consistent, reliable and timely diagnosis of ASD in young children under the age of six.
The Standards and Guidelines for the Diagnosis of Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (PDF 185kb) were developed to enable government to follow through on its commitment to ensure assessment and diagnosis services for ASD in children, from birth to six years, adhere to guidelines defined by the experts.
About the Standards and Guidelines
ASD assessments for children under the age of six will be consistent with standards and guidelines as developed by B.C. autism experts.
The Standards and Guidelines for the Diagnosis of Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder are the result of careful review with experts and stakeholders.
These standards will help to ensure proper diagnosis of this neurological disorder, which can be difficult to diagnose. Experts in more than one discipline are needed to diagnose ASD as there is no medical test for ASD.
A pediatrician, psychologist or a child psychiatrist can make a clinical diagnosis of ASD. Additionally, professionals in two other disciplines (medical, psychological or speech-language) must also assess the child, and results of all the assessments will help confirm or rule-out a diagnosis of ASD.
Having an accurate diagnosis of ASD is the first step in accessing ASD intervention services for children. These standards and guidelines have been followed since July 2002.
Who are the Standards and Guidelines for?
The standards and guidelines are directed at professionals involved in screening, identification, assessment and diagnosis of young children with suspected ASD. This includes:
- professionals involved in early intervention and education (e.g., Infant Development Program (IDP) and Child Development Centre (CDC) workers, preschool educators);
- community health services (e.g., primary care physicians, community health nurses, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists);
- professionals involved in the assessment and diagnosis of children suspected of ASD (e.g., psychologists, pediatricians, child psychiatrists, speech-language pathologists, neurologists, occupational therapists).
Why do we need the Standards and Guidelines?
The standards and guidelines for diagnostic assessments is a key step in meeting the government's service commitments to:
- reduce waitlists,
- increase the number and availability of assessments on a regional basis, and
- establish systems to collect and evaluate data and monitor service quality.
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Last Revised: December 17, 2007
