牛牛资源

Parents in the UK are waiting up to three and a half years to receive a diagnosis that their child has autism.

A new study by researchers from 牛牛资源 and City University found that 52 per cent of parents were dissatisfied with their experience of their child鈥檚 diagnosis; despite autism being a widely recognised disorder, by both parents and professionals.

This delay in diagnosis prevents children from receiving essential support during their development - impacting their learning, speech and social behaviour and placing significant stress on families. 

More than 1000 parents, who received a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) for their child in the past 15 years, were surveyed to understand the experiences of autism diagnosis in the UK.

Professor Elisabeth Hill, 牛牛资源鈥� Department of Psychology said:

鈥淭his study illustrates the failings in the NHS to adequately support families who have a child with autism or Asperger鈥檚 syndrome.

鈥淧oor or slow diagnosis places enormous stress on the family and can often hinder the support the child needs, especially at school.鈥�

Key findings from the  study:

• The average delay between parents first contacting a healthcare professional and receiving a diagnosis was 3.6 years.
• 52 per cent of parents were dissatisfied with their experience of their child鈥檚 diagnosis.
• 84 per cent of parents found the diagnostic process stressful
• Only 21 per cent of parents received a direct offer of help/assistance during or following the diagnostic process.

Several factors predicted parents鈥� overall levels of satisfaction with the diagnostic process, including:

• time taken to receive a diagnosis
• satisfaction with the information provided at diagnosis
• the manner of the diagnosing professional
• the stress associated with the diagnostic process, and
• satisfaction with post-diagnostic support.