Healthcare professionals are often among the first people families turn to when questions arise about development, communication, behavior, autism, or access to services. Clear guidance at these early points can affect how quickly families understand concerns, obtain appropriate evaluation, and connect with needed supports.
The Healthcare Provider Resources pathway brings together practical information for pediatricians, primary care clinicians, psychologists, nurses, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, care coordinators, and other professionals involved in a child’s care.
Use this page to quickly locate TDI resources that can support developmental surveillance, family conversations, referrals, treatment access, interdisciplinary coordination, and transition planning.
Evidence-based information for everyday practice.
Reliable, research-based information in one place.
Tools to help you guide and support families.
Stronger collaboration leads to healthier, more independent futures.
Healthcare Provider Resources is a clinical and referral-focused pathway through The Dailey Institute Resource Center. Each area above connects providers to the more detailed family-facing and professional information already organized within Newly Diagnosed, Autism & Development, ABA & Treatment, School & Education, Insurance & Access, Family Support, Community & Life, and Careers & Transition.
The purpose of this audience page is to help healthcare professionals reach the right information quickly, then share or use the underlying TDI resource that best fits the family’s immediate question.
Each topic below provides in-depth information, practical tools, and trusted resources to support you in clinical practice. Click on any topic to learn more.
Review developmental patterns, early characteristics, communication and social differences, repetitive or restricted patterns, sensory differences, and other concerns that may warrant screening or further evaluation.
Understand the distinction between developmental surveillance, standardized screening, and diagnostic evaluation. Current AAP guidance recommends developmental surveillance at health supervision visits, general developmental screening at 9, 18, and 30 months, and autism-specific screening at 18 and 24 months. Screening identifies risk; it does not establish a diagnosis.
Developmental concerns should be discussed clearly, respectfully, and without unnecessary delay. Describe specific observations, listen to caregiver concerns, explain what screening or evaluation can and cannot determine, and provide concrete next steps rather than leaving families with only a concern.
Families may need help understanding the diagnosis, identifying priorities, addressing medical or developmental needs, accessing intervention, communicating with schools, and navigating insurance. A diagnosis should open a pathway to individualized support rather than a one-size-fits-all treatment plan.
Help families evaluate treatment recommendations by considering the child’s individual needs, meaningful functional goals, family priorities, evidence, potential benefits and burdens, and how progress will be measured. Families should understand why a service is recommended and how treatment will change as needs change
Timely referrals can reduce unnecessary delays. Documentation should clearly identify relevant diagnoses or developmental concerns, functional needs, clinical findings, and the reason for referral. Requirements vary by service, payer, and provider, so families may need help understanding what documentation must accompany a referral.
Insurance access may involve diagnostic documentation, referral requirements, medical-necessity criteria, prior authorization, treatment plans, reauthorization, and payer-specific rules. Clinicians can help by documenting the patient’s functional needs and the clinical rationale for recommended services accurately and specifically.
Autistic children may receive care from multiple medical, behavioral, educational, speech-language, occupational therapy, mental health, and community professionals. With appropriate authorization, coordination can reduce conflicting recommendations, clarify roles, support consistent communication systems, and keep goals connected to the child’s actual needs.
Communication may include speech, gestures, signs, writing, pictures, communication boards, speech-generating devices, behavior, or combinations of these. Healthcare settings should respect the patient’s established communication method, allow adequate processing time, and make communication supports available during care.
A significant change in behavior should not automatically be attributed to autism. Pain, sleep problems, gastrointestinal concerns, seizures, medication effects, anxiety, communication barriers, sensory conditions, environmental demands, and other medical or contextual factors may contribute. Persistent or dangerous behavior may also warrant functional behavioral assessment when appropriate.
Healthcare providers can help families understand that educational, community, and clinical systems have different roles. Relevant medical information can support educational planning, but schools determine eligibility and educational services through applicable education law and school processes.
Healthcare transition should begin before pediatric services end. Preparation may include identifying adult clinicians, transferring records, reviewing medications and health history, strengthening self-advocacy and appointment-management skills, addressing consent and decision-making supports, and reviewing insurance or benefit changes.
AAP guidance recommends autism-specific screening at 18 and 24 months in addition to ongoing developmental surveillance and general developmental screening. Additional evaluation is appropriate whenever developmental concerns arise, regardless of whether a routine screening window has passed.
No. Screening identifies children who may need further assessment. Diagnosis relies on clinical evaluation using developmental history, caregiver information, professional observation, diagnostic criteria, and appropriate assessment methods.
Not necessarily. When developmental delays or functional needs have already been identified, AAP guidance supports referral for appropriate intervention while diagnostic evaluation proceeds rather than delaying all services until a definitive autism diagnosis is made.
Document the relevant diagnosis or concern, developmental and functional findings, clinical rationale for referral, pertinent history, and any information specifically required by the receiving provider or payer. Requirements differ across services and insurance plans.
No. New or worsening behavior should be evaluated in context. Medical problems, pain, sleep, gastrointestinal concerns, seizures, medication effects, anxiety, communication difficulty, sensory conditions, and environmental factors may contribute.
Ask how the patient communicates, ensure the communication system remains accessible, address the patient directly, allow processing and response time, avoid requiring speech when another reliable method is available, and involve communication specialists when needed.
Clinicians can document diagnoses, functional concerns, and medically relevant information and may collaborate with school teams when authorized. The school determines educational eligibility, programming, accommodations, and services under applicable education law.
Planning should begin before pediatric care ends and should be individualized. The process can include transfer readiness, adult-provider identification, records, medications, insurance, self-management skills, communication supports, and decision-making arrangements.
Healthcare professionals do not need to manage every aspect of autism care alone. Their most important contributions may include recognizing concerns, taking caregiver observations seriously, identifying co-occurring health needs, making timely referrals, documenting clinical needs clearly, helping families interpret options, and coordinating care when appropriate.
Good care remains individualized, family-centered, respectful of the patient’s communication and autonomy, and focused on meaningful health, function, participation, safety, and quality of life.
This resource provides general educational information. Diagnostic, referral, documentation, treatment, payer, and care-coordination requirements depend on the patient, professional scope of practice, payer, jurisdiction, and clinical circumstances.
With the right tools, collaboration, and support, healthcare providers help children and families access a brighter future.
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