The gap in care for children living with autism is very similar to the one that existed for children with asthma over 20 years ago. It was once assumed asthma could only be managed in specialty care. With changes in policy and clinical practice, diagnosis and management of asthma moved to primary care, where today it is routinely diagnosed and treated.

Similarly, tools designed to integrate early autism diagnosis and management into primary care practices are urgently needed. This is why we built CanvasDx.

Today’s primary care has evolved from years past. Today’s approach to comprehensive and high quality primary care is to establish “a medical home,” an approach which places the family at the center of the child’s care, partnering effectively with clinical specialists and community resources.

Endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the medical home approach improves accessibility, continuity of care, and other aspects of care and treatment of children and families.

With long wait times for specialist evaluations, pediatricians are increasingly being asked to play a greater role in identifying, diagnosing, and managing autism within the medical home. Read more about the parallels of the evolution of asthma care with that of autism in primary care in this commentary I co-authored with Dr. Brandon S. Aylward, PhD, healthcare researcher and innovator and clinical psychiatrist Christopher Chamanadjian which is published in the journal Clinical Pediatrics: https://lnkd.in/e4eGmHiA (access required)

Colleen Kraft is a primary care pediatrician and 2018 Past President, American Academy of Pediatrics.