A new survey by the charity Ambitious about Autism of nearly 4,000 parents found that around half of them (46 per cent) were having to wait 18 months or longer for their child to be formally diagnosed.
In some cases, parents reported waiting over three years.
Over 70 per cent said they weren’t offered adequate support for their child even after receiving a formal diagnosis, with parents reporting being left ‘completely alone’ without a follow-up appointment or signposts to sources of support like speech and language therapy.
The autism charity has also launched a new online toolkit to support parents of under-fives with autism, in response to its recent findings that thousands of parents of autistic children are facing ‘nightmare’ waits for diagnosis and support.
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