Autism Diagnosis Checklist: Signs, Symptoms, and Next Steps
Every child with autism is unique. As a parent, you may notice symptoms in your child that may be different from what other parents may describe. And that’s completely normal. As such, it’s common for parents to notice certain developmental differences before having clear answers on what’s going on.
An autism diagnosis checklist is a useful tool that can help you become more aware of your child’s developmental differences. However, a formal autism diagnosis is not made by a checklist, but by a professional.
This article will help you organize your observations, recognize common behaviors, and know when it’s the right time to reach out to a professional.
Key Takeaways
- An autism diagnosis checklist is a useful tool that helps you organize and recognize common behaviors
- The checklist by itself does not diagnose autism and does not replace evaluation by a professional
- Being aware of autism symptoms in your child can be a good starting point for knowing when to seek professional evaluation
What Is an Autism Diagnosis Checklist?
An autism diagnosis checklist can help you become familiar with the earliest signs of autism in infants and toddlers. When doing your research, you may come across terms like screening tools, diagnosis, and checklist. Here’s what they mean:
- A screening tool is a quick questionnaire that can find out if your child would benefit from further autism evaluation. In general, screening tools are used to determine if someone needs additional testing.
- A diagnosis is a formal label that a medical professional gives to explain what’s causing signs and symptoms.
- A checklist is a list of behaviors to watch for in your child. This helps you organize your observations to help you clearly communicate your concerns with a professional.
To help you apply this right away, download our free autism diagnosis checklist to clearly track behaviors and prepare for a professional evaluation.
Autism Symptoms Checklist
An autism symptoms checklist is based on guidance from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Here are some items on the checklist to take note of:
Lack of social or emotional reciprocity
In short, social and emotional reciprocity refers to the typical back-and-forth of how children interact with others.
This includes behaviors like responding to others’ emotions appropriately, being engaged in conversation, and giving others attention or interest during interactions.
Some examples include not sharing with others about something they enjoy or rarely smiling or laughing when others try to be funny.
Difficulties in this area are usually one of the earliest signs that parents notice.
For this checklist item, consider if you’ve often noticed your child:
- seem uninterested in social interaction or not respond emotionally to others’ attempts to engage with them
- not want to share interests, enjoyment, or accomplishments with others
- not give back smiles, sounds, or facial expressions during back-and-forth interactions
Limited nonverbal communication
Nonverbal communication refers to the parts of a back-and-forth exchange that don't involve words, such as eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, and body language.
Children typically learn to communicate nonverbally long before they begin to use spoken language. Nonverbal communication in autism is often rather limited.
These differences tend to be consistent, though they can be subtle. For example, your child may not make eye contact or display limited body language when communicating with others.
For this checklist item, consider if you’ve often noticed your child:
- Avoid or display limited eye contact during interactions
- Show limited or inappropriate facial expressions that don’t match the situation
- Rarely use gestures like pointing or waving
Difficulty developing or maintaining relationships
This item relates to how children interact with their peers and adapt their behavior to various social settings.
As children get older, their social demands increase, making some of these social difficulties more noticeable. This can look a lot different in toddlers versus older children.
Some examples include not being able to relate to their peers or make friends.
For this checklist item, consider if you’ve often noticed your child:
- Prefer to play alone instead of with other children
- Have trouble adapting their behavior to different social situations
- Show a lack of interest in engaging with their peers or cooperative play
Repetitive movements, speech, or behaviors
You may notice your child performing repetitive actions or patterns. These behaviors often help regulate and calm them down, especially when they are feeling overwhelmed. They can become more concerning when they get more frequent, are particularly intense, or start to make daily life more challenging.
Some examples of this would be hand flapping or repeating words or phases.
For this checklist item, consider if you’ve often noticed your child:
- repeat words or phrases that don’t have a clear communicative purpose (this is called echolalia)
- play with toys or perform activities in repetitive or non-functional ways
- display repetitive movements like hand flapping, spinning, rocking, or other distinctive body movements
Insistence on sameness or difficulty with change
Many autistic children rely on routines and predictability to help them feel safe and secure. They can get upset if routines change or if any disruptions occur.
For example, your child may want to eat the same food or watch the same TV shows every day. And they may become upset if this happens to change from whatever routine they already have.
For this checklist item, consider if you’ve often noticed your child:
- become upset with any changes in their routine or environment
- insist on predictable daily routines and rituals
- have trouble transitioning between activities throughout the day
Sensory sensitivities or sensory-seeking behaviors
Some children may react more intensely to light, sound, or textures, while other children may seek out intense experiences through touch, smell, or exploring objects. These sensory processing issues are common in children with autism.
For example, your child may be very uncomfortable with how certain clothes feel or with how bright the lights are in a room.
For this checklist item, consider if you’ve often noticed your child:
- Have strong reactions to sensory experiences like sounds, lights, textures, or smells
- Show discomfort with certain clothing, foods, or environments
- Seek intense sensory experiences like spinning, touching objects, or mouthing items
Language and communication delays
In addition to nonverbal communication, autism can cause differences in spoken language and how it's used when interacting with others.
It can also cause delays in developing communication for a child’s age group. These delays can affect understanding, expression, or both.
For example, your child may only use a few words to communicate or may speak too fast or too slow.
For this checklist item, consider if you’ve often noticed your child:
- Have delayed speech or limited vocabulary for their age
- Use speech inconsistently or forget words they’ve used before
How to Use an Autism Checklist to Support Your Child
An autism checklist helps organize your observations over a period of days to weeks. Again, the checklist does not diagnose your child with autism, but can help you communicate more clearly if you decide to get further evaluation with a pediatrician or specialist.
When similar challenges appear across different settings, such as at home, during play, or in social situations, they can reveal a lot more than isolated behaviors do.
- Here's a simple framework for documenting what you observe:
Take some time to make detailed observations of your child using this framework. If you notice challenges in multiple areas, it may indicate the need to consult a professional for further evaluation.
When to Talk to a Doctor or Specialist
If you’ve noticed some of the behaviors on the checklist, it may be a good idea to follow-up with a doctor or specialist for further guidance. A doctor or specialist can help provide a formal autism diagnosis.
Describing the behaviors on the checklist you’ve noticed can help your doctor or specialist get a better understanding of how to best provide care for your child.
Early evaluation is key as it’s often the first step to getting access to support, even before a formal diagnosis is made. Depending on several factors such as your location and your insurance coverage, the cost of an autism diagnosis can vary widely.
And remember, it’s important to trust your instincts as a parent and seek guidance if your concerns about your child persist.
FAQs: Autism Diagnosis Checklist
How reliable is an autism diagnosis checklist?
- An autism diagnosis checklist is reliable in what it’s designed to do, which is help you organize your observations. That way, you can clearly communicate your concerns with a professional.
What does it mean if my child meets several items on an autism checklist?
- If your child meets several items on the checklist in several categories, it could indicate a need for further evaluation by a professional.
How many signs should raise concern when using an autism checklist?
- There’s not a set number of signs. What matters more is whether you observe difficulties in several items that overlap versus a few isolated behaviors.
What should parents do after completing an autism checklist?
- If you notice that your child displays a lot of the behaviors on an autism checklist, the next step would be to get in touch with a professional for further evaluation.
How Alpaca Health Helps Families Navigate the Evaluation Process
Alpaca Health helps your family get in touch with local providers who offer autism evaluation and care by streamlining some of the more complicated parts of the process, such as assessments, documentation, and coordination.
Organized and well-supported providers can provide clearer communication and smoother care experiences for you and your family.
ABA therapy, or Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) for autism is a therapy approach that can help your child learn valuable skills and reduce challenging behaviors. With Alpaca Health, ABA therapy can fit into any schedule, whether you choose to get care at home or in-office.
And you won’t have to worry about long wait times or corporate quotas, which lets you focus on what matters most, which is getting care for your child.
If you want to learn more about autism resources for your family or ABA care pathways, Alpaca Health has you covered.
Download Our Free Autism Diagnosis Checklist (PDF)
Get a printable checklist you can save, share with caregivers, and bring to pediatric or evaluation appointments.
Sources:
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/autism-spectrum-disorder
https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/epub/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3360842/
https://www.nm.org/healthbeat/healthy-tips/nonverbal-autism-what-it-means
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8280472/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37735979/
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