Mavile Karaieva

Failure points in the early autism identification pathway for children aged 0–5 years: Why screening is not diagnosis

This critical narrative review examines early autism identification as a pathway problem rather than as a single testing event and argues that early autism identification should be evaluated through linked quality measures: response to concern, repeated surveillance following negative or ambiguous screening, referral completion, time to diagnostic assessment, support initiation before diagnostic closure, and equity of access.