The NHS must improve how it diagnoses autism in children, the government's health advisers have urged.
In new draft guidance to health professionals, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) says that, while the condition can be hard to identify correctly, NHS staff need to liaise more and to engage better with schools, social care providers and voluntary sector organisations.
It calls for every child with an autism spectrum disorder to be assigned a case co-ordinator to act as a single point of contact, and to have an individual profile created that sets out their needs.
"Children with autism are often disadvantaged in accessing services as their condition is not properly recognised", said Mark Lever, chief executive of the National Autistic Society.
