Information Avoidance and Information Seeking Among Parents of Children With ASD.

Sicherman et al. (2021) asked parents of children with autism about the months before diagnosis.

They used an online survey to learn when parents first worried, how often they spoke up, and whether they avoided autism information.

The goal was to see which parent actions speed up or slow down getting a diagnosis.

Parents who dodged autism articles or videos added a small delay.

The big delay came after parents raised the same concern many times and still got no clear answer.

When worries were ignored, diagnosis took about a year longer.

Bradford et al. (2018) already showed that a short two-visit triage in the pediatric office can cut wait time to 55 days. Nachum’s survey explains why that fix works: it removes the “ignored concern” gap.

McKenzie et al. (2015) found that giving doctors lots of pre-assessment notes shortens the path for children. The new data add the parent side—some families hold back information, so staff must still reach out.

Mottron et al. (2006) mailed practice guidelines to doctors and briefly lowered diagnosis age by 1.5 years, but the gain faded. Nachum shows guidelines alone are not enough; parents still need answers the first time they ask.

You can trim months off a family’s wait by acting on both lessons. Invite worried parents to a brief screening visit even if they seem unsure, and always give a clear next step when they speak up. One timely response beats years of catch-up later.