Coordinated Autism Service Line: Helping One Family at a Time

Written by clinical psychologist, Dr. Dan Clark

CASL – Coordinated Autism Service Line at Franciscan Children’s

The Coordinated Autism Service Line (CASL) at Franciscan Children’s is a program within the Behavioral Health Services Department that aims to identify autism in children as early as possible. The CASL also works with parents or guardians to find appropriate services to help children with individual needs.

Research shows that providing early intervention and therapy for children with autism is critical for their progress and long-term well-being. The CASL program at Franciscan Children’s helps facilitate this process in several ways. CASL has a dedicated waitlist for children showing early warning signs of autism, which helps children get an accurate diagnosis quickly. Early symptoms can include: little or no eye contact, limited response to a caregiver’s smile, fewer instances of showing objects of interest to a caregiver, or having difficulty making friends. Our specialists can see the majority of these referrals within three months. In some children, symptoms of autism may be clear and recognizable, while other children may have more subtle signs of the condition. Parents deserve quick, reliable access to experts familiar with autism to ensure a proper diagnosis.

The autism evaluation team at Franciscan Children’s includes licensed clinical psychologists and doctoral-level trainees. Testing for autism is a holistic process that incorporates the experiences and perspectives of parents, teachers and other adults who live with or provide care to the child. Depending on the child’s age, the evaluation process begins with measuring their developmental skills (for children ages eighteen to thirty months) or their cognitive abilities. For many children, the assessment also includes neuropsychological measures that provide a comprehensive view of their functioning in all areas of their lives.

As part of the assessment process, our clinicians use a series of gold-standard tools, including the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (ADOS-2), to formally diagnose autism spectrum disorders. This approach helps clinicians observe specific behaviors during the evaluation process including social communication skills, emotional expression, nonverbal communication tactics, sensory sensitivities and repetitive or inflexible behavior patterns. These tools are also excellent at separating children with autism from others who have similar conditions, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or intellectual disability. All CASL evaluations also include an assessment of adaptive abilities, which are skills that are necessary for a child to care for themselves and live independently. These critical abilities are often delayed or impaired in children with autism. The CASL also looks at a child’s emotional self-regulation and overall well-being to get a better understanding of their personality and ability to cope with potential stressors in their day-to-day lives.

When a child receives an autism diagnosis, it is documented in a written report that notes clinically relevant symptoms and gives parents or guardians a roadmap for next steps. This roadmap includes interventions, which are recommendations based on each child’s unique needs. These often include speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy. The talented therapists at Franciscan Children’s can provide many of these interventions through our Outpatient Rehabilitative Therapy program. One of the most important therapies for young children with autism is Applied Behavior Analysis, or “ABA.” This type of therapy has been heavily studied and is a powerful approach for teaching children functional communication skills, increasing social skills and reducing behavior problems. CASL partners with several community-based organizations that provide ABA therapy.

It is important to note that autism spectrum disorders are common; one in every forty-four children in the United States is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. The CASL program at Franciscan Children’s exists to help parents or guardians access diagnostic evaluations and connect families with life-changing therapies that can help children with an autism spectrum disorder learn to communicate, care for themselves and live as independently as possible.