If You Could Screen for Autism as Early as One Month, Would You?

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by ClearStrand-ASD.

My daughter was diagnosed with autism around the age of 5. However, I started noticing specific characteristics that suggested my child might have autism when she was around 1 year old. Initially, she was a typical infant, meeting all her developmental milestones. Then, suddenly, she stopped progressing. She remained stagnant in her development, stopped trying to talk, started having issues with food and formula, and wasn’t attempting to walk.

It was as if she was paused in time.

As a young, uninformed mother, I wasn’t sure what to do. I sought help from her pediatrician, who consistently reassured me, saying, “She will get it in her own time,” and advised me not to worry. However, by the age of 5, we all began to worry.

My daughter started kindergarten non-verbal. That’s when her pediatrician finally decided to take action. I felt that this was too little, too late, and I found a new pediatrician who was more proactive.

After all the testing and she received her official diagnosis, I was honestly relieved at first. I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t know what, nor did I know how to help my baby. As a mother, my job is to help. I felt helpless before she was diagnosed, like walking through a cloud, unable to see where I was going… just moving, hitting brick walls, and stumbling on bumps in the road. The diagnosis cleared the fog and allowed me to see my path, however jagged, however hard. I never felt doomed, angry, or sad. It was a feeling of relief. If a test was available when my daughter was younger, I would have done it in a heartbeat. It would have saved us from a lot of heartbreak and setbacks.

Early intervention is crucial. Knowing ahead of time that there is a risk your child might have autism can save parents from playing the guessing game or waiting to see if their child will grow out of it. Did you know that most parents today don’t receive an autism diagnosis for their child until at least age 4, or like in my case, even later? While you can never fully prepare yourself for raising a child with autism, you can put services in place to help along the journey. Early intervention gives children the best start possible and the best chance of developing to their full potential. It can help mitigate the challenges associated with autism and provide a foundation for a better quality of life.

I had no idea when my daughter was diagnosed that there are certain things that can lead to your child having an increased risk of having autism. Already having an older child with autism, babies that are born prematurely, and children that have dads that are over the age of 45 have all been shown to have increased risk for later being diagnosed with autism.

There is now a test that can help with diagnosing autism even earlier if your child has any of those risk factors. ClearStrand-ASD is the first and only objective laboratory test that can help health care providers rule out autism in children as young as one MONTH old, using only a strand of hair. The test is incredibly simple and non-invasive. Parents collect a strand of hair at home and send it in. That’s it!

ClearStrand-ASD is NOT a diagnosis. BUT, it gives measurable data that can help guide next steps with your healthcare provider, so you can start earlier interventions if needed. When my daughter was diagnosed, there were no discussions about tests to identify autism markers. A test like ClearStrand-ASD would have given me peace of mind and helped me to better prepare for what lay ahead.

A Special Offer for Memphis Moms:

ClearStrand-ASD is now offered at a special price in honor of Autism Awareness Month- $499 instead of $749. Memphis Moms get an additional $50 off with code MEMPHISMOM (enter code during checkout).