Screening for Autism

Описание: Health experts define it as delays in communication or social skills and repetitive behaviors—but to families, it may just look like behavioral differences. "Children with Autism generally don't point. They generally don't pretend play, like feeding a baby doll or pretend like they're cooking, so when we don't have to pretend play and we don't have pointing and there's also a lack of words, we get concerned that we may have Autism," explained Sherri Campbell, a nurse practitioner, Autism screening program at Lee Health.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends all children be screened for Autism at 18 months and 24 months. "When we identify children early with Autism they can start receiving services they need including speech therapy, behavior therapy, occupational therapy, and those therapies can help kids make a whole lot of gains," she said.

Lee Health offers children a free and private screening to help determine their risk for Autism. "The one thing about the screening here is it's private and there are no strings attached. no one gets the report except the mom or dad or whoever brought the child. We don't even take insurance information, we just sit down, have a discussion, do the screening, and the parents go home and do with it what they wish," said Campbell.

If health experts suspect a child has Autism, they can help families get the care they need.


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Lee Health in Fort Myers, FL is the largest network of health care facilities in Southwest Florida and is highly respected for its expertise, innovation and quality of care. For more than 100 years, we’ve been providing our community with personalized preventative health services and primary care to highly specialized care services and robotic assisted surgeries. Lee Health - Caring People. Inspiring Care.


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