News From the Autism Center

New resources from the Autism Center

We invite you to explore the Autism Center’s newly revamped online resources for patients and families. Many new resources have been added this year. Most resources are now available in both English and Spanish.

A new section of Spanish language resources includes an 11-part video series featuring Seattle Children’s subject matter experts, educational ombudspeople and families across Washington state discussing a range of topics in modules that range from 11 to 39 minutes. All videos except the first, “¿Qué es el autismo? (What is autism?),” are new this year.

Referral policy changes

Effective August 21, Seattle Children’s will no longer redirect referrals internally to the Autism Center when they are initially submitted to Speech, Psychiatry, Neurodevelopmental, Neurosciences or other ambulatory clinics. Instead, the referral will be closed and a notification sent to the referring provider to submit a new referral directly to the Autism Center.

This change will help ensure that all referrals to the Autism Center have a longer shelf-life for scheduling purposes (that is unique to the Autism Center) and that patients enter Autism’s scheduling queue as promptly as possible. Learn more about referral guidelines for the Autism Center.

Expediting evaluations for autism

Seattle Children’s Autism Center has long waits for diagnostic evaluations for autism and does not offer re-evaluation or second opinions for autism. Your pediatric patient may be able to get an evaluation closer to home or more quickly at another center. Please consider this list of Center of Excellence applied behavior analysis (ABA) providers who offer autism evaluation who are Apple Health fee-for-service providers.

• Training opportunity: If you are interested in becoming certified to evaluate children for autism spectrum disorder, please consider enrolling in the Autism Center of Excellence (COE) certification training on Friday, September 29, 2023 (virtual; 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.). Learn more and register at https://medicalhome.org/coe or contact Kate Orville at orville@uw.edu. The registration deadline is September 25. View the flyer.