6462 The diagnostic report as a tool for contributing to improving a family’s understanding of their child’s autism

Objectives The British Academy of Childhood Disability has suggested a person-centred outcome to aim for should be 'for the child or young person, their family and interagency team to achieve a detailed understanding of their autism spectrum disorder including their level of intellectual abilities and functioning across a range of domains'.¹ A diagnostic clinician contributes to this understanding by circulating a report. Given that children are very often accompanied at their assessments by only one family member, my aim was to discover how many others read the report. Methods The link to an electronic questionnaire was emailed to one parent/carer of each of the 56 consecutive children (referred preschool) who had been given a diagnosis of autism by one paediatrician between November 2019 and 18th March 2021 (55 parents – one sibling pair, directed to respond about most recently diagnosed child). Respondents were also asked how useful various resources (including the autism diagnostic report – which is translated for the families who needed an interpreter at appointments) had been in helping them understand their child's autism. In a question asking which relatives had read the report, a drop down menu was provided. Results Of the 55 children given a diagnosis during the time period, 42 were male, 13 female. Age at diagnosis ranged from 2y10m to 7y1m (median 4y3.5m). Three families needed interpreter at appointments. 11 others spoke another language at home but no interpreter needed. 22 parents/carers completed the questionnaire (40% response rate). 19 of these had English as first language. In helping understand their child's autism, 13 found the diagnostic report very helpful, 7 quite helpful and 2 not very helpful. Responses for which relatives of the child had read the report are presented in table 1. Conclusion It is possible that attitudes and behaviours in the non-responding families may differ, but these results suggest that the diagnostic report makes an important contribution toward a family's understanding of their child's autism, and is likely to be read by members of the family beyond those that accompany the child to appointments. Clinicians should bear this in mind when writing their reports, to maximise their reports' effectiveness in improving the wider family's understanding. Reference 'Explanatory glossary of paediatric disability terms to support data collection by paediatricians at the point of clinical care – includes guidance for considering person- centred outcomes and actions for education, health and care planning' Karen Horridge, chair British Academy of Childhood Disability, July 2017.