Many concerned parents seek a diagnostic ASD assessment to see whether their child’s social communication and behavior meet the diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder, or in response to concerns about their child’s emotional or sensory challenges.

Some parents can be unaware that there are many conditions that, at face value, share common characteristics with autism and can present quite similarly. This is understandable given that the presentation of autism is very heterogeneous and not only has characteristics that overlap with many other conditions, but also are present in the neurotypical population. I wrote this post to support parents who are considering an ASD assessment to be aware of a few common differential diagnoses that share similarities to ASD and gain clarity about what constitutes criteria for ASD, to empower them in seeking answers about how to support their children.

When making an ASD diagnosis, it is important to go on a journey of investigating whether an individual meets the entire diagnostic criteria for ASD (as outlined in the most recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association, or in the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases, 10th Edition).

This includes a dyad of characteristics relating to social communication and restrictive and repetitive patterns of behavior, that are further broken down into more specific categories within the DSM. The DSM-5 criteria also include a rating of severity of symptoms and an acknowledgement of the impact of atypical sensory processing. The autistic characteristics have to be present in the early developmental period of an individual.

To meet diagnostic criteria relating to social communication, the clinician investigates whether an individual meets the criteria for all three (1) deficits in social-emotional reciprocity, (2) deficits in nonverbal communication behaviors used for social interactions, and (3) deficits in developing, maintaining, and understanding........

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