Coralis Health is excited to announce our new partnership with Easterseals Midwest and EarliPoint. This partnership unites us in the shared mission to increase accessibility for families with children facing developmental concerns.
Coralis Health was founded to create a more inclusive and equitable system for the early identification and support of children with autism or other developmental delays — regardless of background or geography. This collaboration with Easterseals Midwest and EarliPoint marks a meaningful step forward in breaking down barriers and ensuring every child has the opportunity to thrive.
Our partnership with Easterseals Midwest and EarliPoint will initially focus on helping children and families in St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri. The current autism diagnosis rate for children in the United States is 1 in 31. This means that there are nearly 44,000 children in Missouri with autism. Experts agree that early diagnosis, paired with early interventions, are crucial to providing children and families with the best opportunities for a full, productive life.
A Partnership of Shared Missions
Easterseals Midwest is a nonprofit organization that provides essential services and on-the-ground support to nearly 7,500 people each year. They help families across Missouri, Kansas, and parts of Illinois through multiple divisions: Autism, Community Living, Early Childhood-Home Visiting, Employment, and Health Home Services.
When Easterseals Midwest needed a partner to help bring EarliPoint to the community it serves, they looked no further than Coralis Health and its network of highly-experienced medical professionals, including Developmental Behavioral Pediatricians and Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists.
The Coralis Health team are experts in the field of child development, mental health, and in the diagnosis of autism, and with a shared mission, are the perfect partner for Easterseals Midwest.
What Is EarliPoint and How Does It Help In The Diagnosis of Autism?
EarliPoint is a cutting-edge tool that utilizes eye-tracking technology to diagnose autism. By collecting 120 data points per second, it builds an attention funnel of how the child views the world when watching short video scenes of social interactions. The collected data is then analyzed using patented technology to compare the child’s behavior against age-expected metrics. This analysis helps identify if the child is missing key moments of social learning, a critical indicator of autism.
To conduct the test, a child is presented a series of short videos on the EarliPoint device which resembles a small TV. The EarliPoint tool monitors and analyzes looking behavior that is not detectable to the human eye.
Testing is done by Easterseals Midwest’s highly-trained autism services team, which then forwards the results to Coralis Health.
A Coralis Health consulting physician will then review the findings and schedule a telehealth appointment within 24 hours of the EarliPoint assessment. During this session, they confirm the diagnosis using additional standardized tools, discuss the results with the family, answer any questions, and provide a comprehensive report with personalized recommendations.
Early Diagnosis Is The Key
A child’s brain is most adaptable to change in the early years of life, as the neural connections that create the foundation for behavior and learning are forming. As your child grows, these connections solidify and can become harder to change, so successful outcomes really depend on initiating therapy as early as possible.
The sooner a developmental delay is identified and treated, the better the chance your child has to achieve their full potential – maintaining higher intellectual functioning, and be more likely to stay in a typical education setting. With the right care, your child can thrive!
To learn more about EarliPoint or make an appointment for an assessment, families should contact Easterseals Midwest at 1-800-200-2119 or info@esmw.org.
If you live outside of Easterseals Midwest’s service area but have any questions, or would like to talk to a specialist about an autism evaluation for your child, please contact us directly here at Coralis Health. We are always here to help!
