Pediatric Autism
Autism Evaluation for Children
CHRISTUS Health offers comprehensive autism evaluations for children and adolescents who need a diagnosis or a diagnosis confirmation. Early signs of autism may include lack of emotion or empathy, no eye contact, or speech delay. If you have witnessed these symptoms, our board-certified physicians can evaluate your child's social interaction, communication, behavior, emotional, cognitive, sensory, and adaptive behavior for any possible autism conditions.
Common conditions include:
- Asperger's Syndrome
- Rett Syndrome
- Childhood Disintegrative Disorder
- Kanner's Syndrome
- Pervasive Development Disorder
We partner with the Autism Treatment Center and University of Texas at San Antonio Department of Educational Psychology to bring the gold standard treatment for autism and applied behavioral analysis (ABA) therapy to children with autism. Our collaboration survives on grant funding and allows us to decrease the wait times between diagnosis of autism and beginning treatment. It also includes training new ABA therapists and high-quality research for various autism conditions.
Children who receive a diagnosis of autism at CHRISTUS Health are able to be placed into our clinic. Due to our current funding, our clinic is currently not open to the general public, but we hope this may change in the future.
Prepare for Your Visit
Please gather the following items, if applicable, and bring them to your appointment to help us diagnose and treat your child.
- A copy of the school IEP (Individualized Education Plan/Program) or 504 Plan
- A copy of the school FIE (Full and Individualized Evaluation)
- Completed Parent and Teacher NICHQ/Vanderbilt forms
- Results of any prior diagnostic evaluations/testing such as neuropsychological testing, developmental pediatrics evaluation, MRI brain (please bring on disk), EEGs and genetic testing
- Any important medical records from long hospitalizations, diagnostic work-ups/testing, etc.
If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder, visit Autism Lifeline Links (ALL) for community resources at www.autismlifelinelinks.org.
Please note that due to high demand in the community, wait times for an appointment may be up to six months or more.