Resumen

XAVIER, Jucineide S.; MARCHIORI, Thais  y  SCHWARTZMAN, José Salomão. Parents seeking a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder for their child. Psicol. teor. prat. [online]. 2019, vol.21, n.1, pp. 170-185. ISSN 1516-3687.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5935/1980-6906/psicologia.v21n1p170-185.

This study examined the parents' journey in the search of a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) for their child and it was accomplished in two stages. The Stage 1 included the analysis of 20 records of children diagnosed with ASD attended in a clinic (2015-2017). We verified that the symptoms had been noticed between ages 13-24 months by most parents; the most reported symptom was verbal communication delay and different neuropediatricians were suspicious of the diagnosis; the most performed treatment was speech therapy. The Stage 2 was implemented to complement the findings of stage 1 and to characterize the clinic (311 cases in total). In this sample, we verified that 65.5% of the children were diagnosed with ASD; the parents and a single neuropediatrician were responsible for the referral. Despite the early detection of changes and seeking help, the parents sometimes received guidance that the child's development matched the expected for the age.

Palabras clave : Autism Spectrum Disorder; parents path; first symptoms; treatment; professionals.

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