[Managing an autistic child]

Managing an autistic child.General practitioners and pediatricians are on the front line not only to detect atypical developmental trajectories in children but also to guide functional evaluation to facilitate early interventions. They have to inform parents and to guide them toward specialized professionals where further multidisciplinary evaluation will be conducted to define an individualized early intervention program. It is admitted that early intervention is a factor of better prognosis in autism. To help starting early intervention, general practitioners have to be aware of the recent knowledge in clinical aspects of social and communication abilities development but also in the different evaluations and therapeutic interventions which are recommended. General practitioners and pediatricians will keep up following the child evolution as part of the childcare team with parents and specialized professionals.