Diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorder in a toddler in Switzerland?

me4sunny · #1 07.12.2011, 23:43

I wondered if anyone knows how to go about it? It would be great if I could rule this out or get a confirmation and then deal with it...
My son is only 2,9 and doesn't speak German (he is growing up bi-lingual and hence speaks relatively little for his age anyway).
What should I do if I want him assessed? (we live in central CH)

Thanks for any advice/suggestions

dmarkd · #2 07.12.2011, 23:51

Take him to your doctors(pediatrician) and they should refer you to the correct people. That what happened for us. We ended up at the kjpd in zürich, they are the specialists.
Good luck.

ecb · #3 08.12.2011, 00:00

A multi disciplinary team is now considered best practice for a comprehensive diagnosis. This will include paedeatric neurologist, pyschologist and pyschiatrist. (not sure if spelt these properly .. its very late). You will be referred to one of these and they should get the others involved.

New clinical guidance has just (or is just about to be) published for diagnosis in pre schoolers, so it is a very current subject.

Beware, it is not a quick process .. we are 8 months in now and still at it.

me4sunny · #4 08.12.2011, 00:21

Thanks!

I just wondered how they would be able to assess him correctly if he doesn't speak German and has a speech delay due to his bi-lingual environment? I actually started looking into assessment centres in the UK, but luckily we have a pediatrician appointment for my younger son this Friday - will discuss this matter with the "GP" then...

ecb · #5 08.12.2011, 00:34

My son speaks very little and they have no problem assessing him. It is not what he says (or doesn't in our cases)that is actually of importance. There is an exhaustive parental questionnaire which gives the basic information on behaviours, then you will be asked to bring him for various play sessions. We had some videos of play sessions with our special needs therapist which were useful too. They all spoke in English to him. They were never looking for verbal responses - more engagement, responsiveness and receptiveness.

At almost 3 years you are right to think that the speech delay might be linked to something else. The problem with living here is that the multilingual environment often hides other problems ... our family doctor kept saying it was because we speak 3 languages at home. But like you we had other suspicions.

me4sunny · #6 08.12.2011, 10:35

	Quote:	ecb
	My son speaks very little and they have no problem assessing him. It is not what he says (or doesn't in our cases)that is actually of importance. There is an exhaustive parental questionnaire which gives the basic information on behaviours, then you will be asked to bring him for various play sessions. We had some videos of play sessions with our special needs therapist which were useful too. They all spoke in English to him. They were never looking for verbal responses - more engagement, responsiveness and receptiveness. At almost 3 years you are right to think that the speech delay might be linked to something else. The problem with living here is that the multilingual environment often hides other problems ... our family doctor kept saying it was because we speak 3 languages at home. But like you we had other suspicions.

oh, well.. please wish me luck tomorrow - I hope I can be convincing enough to get the referral!