Autism Evaluation
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD or Autism for short) is a developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication, and behavioral challenges.
If you think your child or teen might be experiencing these types of challenges, an Autism evaluation may be the best next step.
Here’s What Autism Can Look Like in Everyday Life:
- Difficulty managing sensory elements of the environment (e.g., overwhelmed by loud sounds, certain smells, certain clothing, chaotic environments)
- Increased behavioral problems during social settings (e.g., recess, lunch, organized group games)
- Needing an extended period of time to recover from social situations
- Difficulty reading or interpreting social cues and expectations
- Preference for discussing topics of interest, and difficulty with small talk or conversing about non-preferred topics
- The ability to deeply focus on areas of interest, sometimes to the exclusion of anything else
- Preference for order, routine, and predictability
- Difficulty managing emotions when situations are unpredictable or spontaneous
- Difficulty initiating interactions
- Dislike of small talk
- Preference for text-based or virtual interactions
- Initiating interactions in unusual ways (e.g., pinching, pushing)
- Difficulty understanding personal space
- Repetitive behaviors (stimming) such as flapping, rocking, hair twirling, skin picking
How an Autism Evaluation Can Help
An Autism evaluation can help families understand why certain tasks, activities, or familial interactions may feel hard. This often helps reduce shame and stigma and can help families communicate more effectively and manage more challenging behavior at home. Additionally, there is strong overlap between Autism, anxiety, depression, and ADHD. A comprehensive evaluation can help tease apart the presence of one, or numerous, diagnoses, which then helps inform more effective interventions.
An Autism Evaluation by Wolff Child Psychology Typically Includes:
- A thorough parent interview spanning birth and genetic history, mood, social-emotional development, and adaptive skills
- A record review (if previous records, such as IEPs or previous evaluations exist)
- Brief interviews with teachers and other service providers (therapists, OTs, speech and language pathologists)
- Detailed clinical observations
- A battery of tests, including cognitive strengths and weaknesses, academic performance, assessments of attention and executive functioning skills, and direct assessments of social communication and interaction skills
- Behavioral rating scales completed by adults who know the student well (e.g., parents, teachers, service providers)
- A thorough report with both the data that schools will need to determine accommodations and the language that parents can understand
- Specific recommendations for educational accommodations and/or other therapeutic supports (when warranted)
- A feedback session to review the results and what they mean, and to create a roadmap for moving forward
- Coordination with the school or other care providers following the evaluation
Next Steps: Schedule an Autism Evaluation
If an Autism Evaluation sounds like what your child or teen might need, we encourage you to reach out and start the conversation. Even if you’re unsure what to do next, a caring expert on our team is ready to listen and help guide you. Contact us today and we’ll help you get started.