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Medical care for children on the autism spectrum

Published on September 30, 2020   48 min

A selection of talks on Neurology

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This is Doctor Lisa Weisner, I'm a pediatrician and have been in private practice in Orange, Connecticut for 35 years. I have had an interest for many years in children with autism. I am an assistant clinical professor of pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics at the Yale Medical School and the Yale New Haven Children's Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut.
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I'm going to start with an overview of my talk on medical care for children on the autism spectrum. I will discuss the important role of the pediatrician or other primary care providers in screening for autism spectrum disorders. How to go from finding a positive screening test to helping parents understand what the concerns are, and how to get a more definitive diagnosis. I will discuss the scope of medical care issues the parents will deal with and some of the more common medical problems in children, and how having an autism spectrum disorder may make these problems more difficult to cope with. I will spend quite a bit of time on seizures, since this is the most common medical problem in autism. I will discuss how an ASD could make it more difficult than usual to keep children safe at home, in school and in the community. In addition, I will discuss the use of the emergency department and hospitalization of a child with an ASD, as well as the added stressors involved for anyone with autism and their family. I will make suggestions to help deal with these difficult situations. I will also touch on some legal issues that can be important in planning for families with children on the autism spectrum. I will end with a summary and a reference list that includes sources from which I obtained my information, and a reading list for further exploration of specific topics.
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Medical care for children on the autism spectrum

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