Suspect my charge may have Asperger's

[BestestBrownies]

I have been working for this family just under 3 months and strongly suspect my 5yo charge has Asperger's. How do I go about telling the parents this in as tactful and kind a manner as possible?

They are a lovely family and I'm really happy working for them, so of course I don't want to cause them any unnecessary hurt. I thought about broaching the subject with his teacher, but decided against that idea as I don't want to look like I'm going behind the parents backs.

Has anyone here had to handle this situation before? Are there any parents of ASD children who can advise me? I just want to do what's best for my charge and I know early diagnosis means he can be better helped long term.

I would highlight the delays in reaching milestones, and note down observations and communicate them with the parents, but I would not ever ever mention autism or 'spectrum'. Trust me - I have had a audiologist telling me when DS was 2.5 years old that he thought DS was on the 'spectrum'. I was gutted, devestated, horrified, and walked out of the meeting in absolute tears. Turns out DS has a speech disorder, and nothing to do with being autistic. I am now a childminder and would approach this subject with a lot of tact...