Autism Diagnostics: Interaction of Doctors and Parents in the Interest of Children

In the article, there is discussed the interaction of doctors of various specialties and parents of
children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the context of the theory of social constructionism.
The main attention is given to the analysis of parents’ experience in interacting with doctors and
medical organizations in the process of diagnosing ASD in children. The empirical base of the
study comprises the material of 42 individual interviews with parents living in the cities of Kazan,
Saint Petersburg, Yoshkar-Ola, and 3 focus groups; the analysis of 350 case histories (for the period
of 2015–2018) of in-patients diagnosed with child autism at the Bekhterev Republican clinical
psychiatric hospital of the Ministry of Health of Tatarstan. On the base of the analysis of the obtained
data, it was showed that the district pediatricians are not alert in relation to ASD, even when parents
clearly express concern about their child’s behavior. Neurologists initially prescribe medication and
only after completing the entire course refer the child to psychiatrist. The average age of the child at
the time of the fi nal clinical diagnosis of F84.0 was 4.5±2 years. The time of using the entire arsenal
of early intervention methods is passed. This situation can lead to social malfunctioning of patients
with ASD and to institutional confl icts between medical professionals and parents of patients. The
obtained results should be taken into account when organizing events and providing medical and
correctional assistance to patients.