Goal

Provides a comprehensive and multi-disciplinary diagnostic assessment of children or youth (18 years of age and under) who present with a concern of autism (referred to as autism spectrum disorder, or ASD for short). Recommendations for services and treatment planning based on the child’s diagnosis are offered.

Purpose

• Provide an Autism specific evaluation that includes all the components of the Thompson Center best practice model of care.
• Provide comprehensive medical evaluation (including evaluation for medical co-occurring issues)
• Provide ADOS-2 (a gold-standard autism test which is administered by a research reliable clinician), cognitive assessment, adaptive functioning, and other necessary psychological assessments to answer the question of whether the child has autism or not.
• Provide children and families with comprehensive recommendations families can use to guide them on accessing necessary resources to give their child the best chance for improvement over time.

Clinic entry requirements

• 18 years old or younger
• Referral from MD, PhD, School, parents or other agency working with child
• Caregiver completes and returning our clinic history form

Clinic process

Appointment lead by psychologist or pediatrician; appointment blocks are 4 hours (8-12 or 1-5)

• Clinical interview with caregiver(s) and patient (depending on age)
• ADOS-2
• Cognitive Assessment
• Adaptive Measure
• Other testing as deemed necessary

Feedback is generally provided the same day as the appointment as well as some initial treatment thoughts. A comprehensive report, more detailed, is mailed out within 4 weeks.

Children are provided care coordination through the Thompson Center.

• Next Steps training is offered to all families who receive an ASD diagnosis.
• Autism Medical Clinic provides supplemental medical care with physician with Autism expertise.
• Family resource staff can help link to other services in the family’s community.
• Children may qualify for school-based services.

The team will refer for other appropriate evaluations (e.g., neurology, genetics, speech pathology, occupational therapy, applied behavioral analysis).