Dec 15, 2022, Cork Independent: Raised awareness from parents around autism https://www.corkindependent.com/2022/12/14/raised-awareness-from-parents-around-autism/
“There is a lot more awareness surrounding autism these days compared to the way things were going back years.” That's according to Aisling Doyle, Project Administrator for the Autism Assessment Centre Ireland.
Autism Assessment Centre Ireland is a service catered towards families in need of an autism assessment for a child. The clinic offers assessments for children aged between 3-17.
This kind of service is needed more now than it ever has been, as figures published this year by the Department of Health reveal that 14,000 children between the ages of four and 15 have an autism diagnosis - around 4.7 per cent of the school population.
This is four times higher than the figure of just 1.2 per cent 10 years ago.
Aisling said: “At the moment, families are a lot more aware of what to look out for. It’s great to see the heightened awareness and that parents are really in tune with their child’s behaviours and development so that’s a really positive thing to see.”
If you are seeking an assessment, there are a number of different routes you can take to get results for your child. There is no cost going through a public referral system - but you could be waiting up to four years for an assessment.
“Early intervention is really important and that’s why it is really important for the children to be diagnosed when they are younger so that they can start their possible therapy sessions, the schools can begin to help, and I think it just really sets them up with the extra support that they need as they move up through their education into getting jobs as adults and other aspects of life.”…