Informal Autism Screening

Christine has an impeccable record in identifying neurodivergence in children. She can identify subtle early signs, hard-to-spot cases, and masking behaviours.

Although Christine is not licensed to diagnose, she provides valuable information to parents to help them decide or advocate for formal autism assessments.

In British Columbia, autistic children are systematically underdiagnosed and miss the opportunity and resources for support and therapy. Referring physicians and parents often do not have up-to-date and correct knowledge to identity non-classic profiles of autism. First Nation children are systematically profiled for FASD instead of ASD. Without proper understanding, accommodation, and support, autistic children experience a lack of competence, reduced social and academic performance, trauma, and poor outcome in adulthood.

This cost-reduced service stems from the philosophy and methods based on Family Navigation, serving as the disconnect between discovery and delivery of medical care for autistic children and adults. This is a part of the advocacy effort to get every child the help they need to thrive and be successful in a timely manner. This is also a built-in service for all children receiving counselling with Christine. As a policy, every child is screened before beginning counselling. Now, Christine is offering autism screening as a stand-alone service.

This screening Process:

15-minute Initial Consultation Free

Parent consultation Online

Screening In-person

Report

The length of the sessions is typically one hour to one and half hours each, depending on the complexity. If further assessment is warranted, Christine will also write up an advocacy letter detailing the observations, information on how to navigate the medical system efficiently, and a list of suitable referrals. This screening is significantly more advanced and thorough than those provided by many family physicians, pediatricians, and other service providers without this specific type of knowledge, training, and experience in the field.

This service can be claimed as a counselling service with many extended health plans.

Sliding scale fees are available and no one is turned away at the lack of funds.

This service is suitable for parents:

Wishing for more information about their child's development
Wanting to rule-in or rule-out autism concerning their children's behavioural difficulties.
Deciding if they should proceed with the very expensive private autism assessment
Need help advocating for autism assessment with their family physicians or pediatricians.
With children who were under-diagnosed by BCCAN or CDBC.

This is like a dental check-up. Do not wait until the child's lagging skills or unmet needs manifest into serious mental health issues or disruptive behaviours.