What Actually Happens in an Autism Assessment?

So.. the long wait is finally over… and you’ve managed to get an appointment for an autism assessment for either yourself or your child. You’re probably now having the same thoughts as 90% of people in your situation and that is ‘What actually happens in an autism assessment?’ Don’t worry, we at CareGen have got you covered! We are going to breakdown, step by step, what we do within our autism assessments, so you know what to expect before and during an assessment.

Still waiting for an Autism Assessment? You can schedule an autism assessment in as little as a couple of weeks by clicking here

Developmental History

This is a critical step in any autism assessment. For a clinician to diagnose autism, we need to gather detailed information on you/your child’s life. Topics that we cover are split into 2 parts: from pregnancy to 3/4 years old and then from 4/5 years old onwards. We ask questions around how you/your child were in social situations with social communication and social interactions. For example, did they make eye contact as a child? Or did they initiate conversations and maintain this interaction?

We also ask questions around you/your child’s flexibility of thought. This means how you/they were in relation to being spontaneous and creative in both play and day to day living. This could include questions such as ‘what were they like with routines as a child?’ or ‘did they play creatively at school?’.

This part of the assessment is to gather a picture of you/your child in relation to possible autism. Prior to the assessment, we recommend you thinking back and writing down any examples of times where you/your child have ever displayed things like good social skills or need for routine and sameness.

Gathering Information from a Second Environment

For a clinician to diagnose autism, we need information from more than one environment. This is usually from school or another setting that you frequent. Prior to your autism assessment, we will email you a form, and request that you get either school or another setting to complete it. We ask that you ensure that this is completed and returned to us at least 48 hours before the autism assessment, so the assessing team can review. This essentially saves you a lot of time and minimizes any delays for the assessing team as this information is readily available to us.

Clinical Observation

The final part of any autism assessment is a clinical observation of you/your child. This allows the individual to have their say within the assessment process. We may ask some questions around you/their social interaction and communication skills, along with any difficulties you/they may be experiencing. Don’t worry, if you need more information on this part, your clinician can explain this to you further during the Developmental History stage of your assessment.

Once all these steps have been completed, the assessing team should have all the information necessary to come to a diagnostic conclusion. A Multi-Disciplinary case discussion will be held (usually on the same day as the last part of your assessment) and you will be notified of the outcome on the same day.  

If you feel like you or your child requires an autism assessment, then click here to book one today. CareGen offers affordable and flexible online autism assessments by qualified clinicians.