The European Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (ESCAP) published the « ESCAP Practical Guide to Autism: Summary of Evidence-based Recommendations for Diagnosis and Treatment ». The publication summarises current information on autism and focuses on ways to detect, diagnose and treat it.
This guide responds to the need identified by ESCAP in 2018 to create a practical guidance document that would help to improve knowledge and practice about autism, especially thinking about people in those areas that are more neglected or with less consolidated care services for people on the autism spectrum. The fact is that, all over Europe, there is today a greater awareness about the frequency and importance of autism, which is recognised not only as a childhood condition, but as a neurodevelopmental condition that persists throughout life and is very heterogeneous.
Services for people with autism and their families are very different, but in most European countries the availability of services is limited. Thus, the aim of this document is to disseminate information that can be adapted for use in routine clinical practice throughout Europe. It also aims at providing professionals in the social-health and education fields with evidence-based advice on basic and minimum standards for good practice in the assessment and treatment of autistic people of all ages and backgrounds.
The guide has been developed by the ESCAP working group on autism, formed by international experts in the field Joaquín Fuentes, Amaia Hervás and Patricia Howlin. It has been ratified by ESCAP, which includes the national associations of child and adolescent psychiatry of Austria, Belgium (French-speaking), Belgium (Flemish-speaking), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
Download the publication in English
Télécharger la publication en français