New Jersey: One in 29 children has autism; no longer year long wait for diagnosis

July 18, 2026, New Jersey 101.5: NJ families no longer have to wait a year for autism answers

 New Jersey families are waiting up to a year for an autism diagnosis, delaying critical early intervention during a child's most important developmental years.

Stirling nonprofit says it's changing that with the state's first 30-day autism diagnosis pathway by connecting families with available specialists.

The program has already helped families get faster answers and aims to reshape autism care across New Jersey through education, care coordination and technology.

That is what’s happening in New Jersey. Many parents are told to take a wait-and-see approach and to see if their child grows out of it. But while parents are waiting, their child is missing out on critical early intervention during their most important developmental window.

Thankfully, a non-profit called The Uncommon Thread, based in Stirling, Morris County, has become the first and only in the state to offer a 30-day pathway — an autism diagnosis within just one month.

New Jersey autism diagnosis wait times leave families waiting months

The prevalence of autism in New Jersey is 1 in 29, and there are just not enough specialists to handle the number of cases in the state. That’s why there is up to a year wait time, said Gregg Carr, founder and managing director of The Uncommon Thread.

“So if you lose a year, you’re losing almost 20% of that time where the child can be shown the greatest amount of success,” Carr.

He has seen children getting diagnosed later and later in their life, which is unacceptable to him.

At The Uncommon Thread, they work with 72 autism specialists who can do the evaluations, and they look for their cancellation times.

“So, anytime a family comes to us for a potential diagnosis or an evaluation or a screening, we’ll actually reach out to all 72, and whoever has availability within 30 days, we’re getting that child on board with that particular group,” Carr said.

Someone always has an availability, he added.

It works well in getting those diagnoses a lot of sooner. Carr said the 30-day Pathway launched only six months ago, and so far The Uncommon Thread has helped 16 families get a faster diagnosis.

“We’re working on it. It’s more about how do we get the word out that we can help these families getting this early diagnosis as well as making sure that we can keep up with the capacity like everybody else out there,” Carr said. . . .