O PROCESSO DE DIAGNÓSTICO DO TRANSTORNO DO ESPECTRO AUTISTA DESDE DIFERENTES PERSPECTIVAS

Abstract

The multifactorial characteristics that involve ASD make this disorder very complex, therefore it is necessary that interdisciplinary teams composed of different professionals from different areas, together with those responsible for children with ASD, are coordinated so that detection, diagnosis and intervention are carried out promptly. Thus, the study aims to analyze the diagnostic process that professionals (doctors, psychologists, therapists, among others) and the family go through to perform the screening, detection and diagnosis of ASD. It was performed by qualitative data analysis from previously structured interviews carried out with professionals. Based on the results, we observed that many participants still lack information about the clinical and therapeutic status of ASD. Within the family, the divergence of opinion about the ASD is common. In addition, it is clear that the grief that many parents experience in the face of the diagnosis is strongly linked to the fear of the unknown and the judgment of their family and friends, in addition to the idea of frustrating the expectations projected on the child. Furthermore, the lack of a well-established protocol in the diagnostic investigation process is still an important cause of late diagnosis with delay in multidisciplinary stimuli, causing delay in the development of patients. For this reason, it is essential that there is a standardization in this process, given that there is still a lot of divergence in relation to the factors analyzed, such as alarm signs, ideal age to complete the diagnosis, exams and tests to be requested.