“Does your child point with one finger to show you something interesting, such as an airplane in the sky, or a big truck in the road?”

An array of questions like this one, asked by a pediatrician or other professional to parents of toddlers, makes up one of the best standardized measures that can detect possible signs of autism early—the first step toward early intervention with services to help kids on the spectrum develop strong social and other skills they need to thrive in a challenging world.

But individual parents aren’t the only ones who should be concerned about early screenings. When you add up the entire population of individual parents and pediatricians learning, or not, about what to look for, there is a combined big-picture impact. National trends in who gets screened for autism and when they do are important public health considerations that policymakers and leaders across social…