How does diagnosing autism differ from developmental screening?

Developmental screening is like checking if your toy box has all the right toys, it’s a quick peek to see if anything seems off. Diagnosing autism is more like opening each toy up and playing with it to see exactly what it does.

Imagine you're at a playground, and your friend is trying to build a tower with blocks. Developmental screening is like the teacher asking, “Can you stack these blocks?” to see if everything looks okay. It's fast and simple, just a few questions or activities.

But diagnosing autism is more like spending time playing together. The teacher might ask your friend to sort the blocks by color, copy shapes, or talk about what they're doing. They watch how your friend plays, talks, and interacts with others over several visits. This helps them figure out if autism is part of how your friend sees the world.

Developmental screening is like a short game, it tells you something might be different. Diagnosis is like playing the full game, it gives you a clearer picture of what's going on, so you can know exactly what kind of help your friend needs.