{"id":242425,"date":"2026-04-22T22:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T22:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/242425\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T22:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T22:06:10","slug":"free-autism-screenings-offered-for-young-children-at-golisano-childrens-hospital-wgcu-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/242425\/","title":{"rendered":"Free autism screenings offered for young children at Golisano Children\u2019s Hospital | WGCU News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/autism\/data-research\/index.html\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">estimated<\/a> that 1 in every 31 children in the U.S. has been identified with autism spectrum disorder, a rate that surpasses <a href=\"https:\/\/www.acco.org\/us-childhood-cancer-statistics\/\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">childhood cancer,<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/books\/NBK619992\/\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">juvenile diabetes<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/hivinfo.nih.gov\/understanding-hiv\/fact-sheets\/hiv-and-children\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pediatric AIDS<\/a>. Health experts say this could make early screening more important than ever.<\/p>\n<p>Golisano Children\u2019s Hospital of Southwest Florida is offering free monthly autism screenings for toddlers ages 18 months to 5 years old. Screenings are conducted by advanced practice registered nurses with specialized training in developmental disorders and child development.<\/p>\n<p>The next screening dates are May 6 and May 15 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Pediatric Specialist Office, 15901 Bass Road, Suite 102, Fort Myers. Physician referrals are not required. Families interested in scheduling can call 239-343-6838.<\/p>\n<p>WGCU is your trusted source for news and information in Southwest Florida. We are a nonprofit public service, and your support is more critical than ever. Keep public media strong and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/wgcu.secureallegiance.com\/wgcu\/WebModule\/Donate.aspx?P=JOURNALISM&amp;PAGETYPE=PLG&amp;CHECK=Fh6V9MuzTVcdN7RxIr2SYb1YhDw50SikSh2nq0qouhg%3d\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">donate\u00a0<\/a>now. Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is estimated that 1 in every 31 children&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-242425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}