Dear Primary Care Professional,

Welcome to the Autism Toolkit for Healthcare Professionals. Experts define autism and related pervasive developmental disorders as severe neurodevelopmental conditions that seriously impair social, communicative and behavioral functioning.
 
Pediatricians and other providers of primary care experience autism as a complex, poorly understood and challenging spectrum of disability that has an enormous impact on these patients and their families.  We serve as trusted advisors, sounding boards and support systems for them. The increasing incidence of autism spectrum disorders and the growing sophistication of parents have made it increasingly difficult for us as primary care professionals to provide all that these patients and families expect and deserve from us.

The parent of a 14-month-old is concerned about her child’s language. What steps should I take? I am suspecting autism in a 19-month-old boy and would like a specialist to take a look. Where can I send this patient?  A mother of a school-aged child with autism has brought the 15-month-old sibling for a well visit and wants to know if it would be safer to give the MMR as separate components, or to defer immunization altogether. What do the experts recommend?
 
A multidisciplinary team of specialists in Developmental and General Pediatrics, Child Psychiatry, Psychology, Mental Health, Nursing and Education designed this toolkit and, most importantly, parents of autistic children participated to help ensure the Guide’s relevance and usefulness. We applaud the corporate and clinical leadership of the North Shore-LIJ Health System that have generously supported our work, with special thanks to Dr. Bernard Rosof and the North Shore-LIJ Health System’s Autism Steering Committee.

We hope that this toolkit will be useful in your effort to respond to clinical issues such as those above as well as others that may arise in your clinical practice.

The North Shore-LIJ Autism Education Subcommittee

Andrew Adesman, MD
Chief, Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Schneider Children's Hospital

May-Lynn Andresen, RN
Senior Adminstrative Manager, Fay J. Lindner Center for Autism

Gary Blank, DPM, MBA
Director, Clinical Program Initiatives

Joel Bregman, MD—Co-Chairman
Medical Director, Fay J. Lindner Center for Autism

Carmel Foley, MD
Chief, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry - Schneider Children's Hospital

Victor Fornari, MD
Associate Chairman, Education/Training, Psychiatry - NSUH

Michael Grosso, MD—Co-Chairman
Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs and Chief, Department of Pediatrics, Huntington Hospital

Sandra Kaplan, MD
Vice Chairman, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry - NSUH

Richard J. Kessler, DO
Medical Director, ACLD

Irene Leff, MS, MA
Director, Professional and Public Health Education

David Meryash, MD
Director of Training, Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Schneider Children’s Hospital

Ellen Palermo, EdD
Director, Marcus Avenue Early Childhood Developmental Program

Frances Prochak, RN
Assistant Administrator for Nursing - The Zucker Hillside Hospital

Bernard M. Rosof, MD, MACP
Senior Vice President, Corporate Relations and Health Affairs

Lori Stier, RN, EdD
Administrative Director, Quality Management

Barbara Wilson, PhD
Director, Center for Neuropsychological Services
Executive Director, Preschool Development Program