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How are Autism Evaluations Conducted?

There are almost as many ways to conduct an autism evaluation as there are settings that provide the evaluations.  

Some assessments are conducted by an individual professional who may make the diagnosis after asking a series of questions during an interview with a parent or client and a brief observation.

Individual professionals may routinely seek specific information such as:

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Does the individual follow the glance of the professional as they look at an object across the room, or do they make eye contact during the interaction?

The diagnostic decision may be made after a brief visit - sometimes in one to two hours.  

Other autism evaluations may have multiple components. Information for these evaluations may be collected across 8 hours or more and on multiple days.

Multiple component evaluations often include:

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  • Developmental histories
  • Behavioral observations
  • Checklists to be completed by parents, teachers, therapists, or by the individuals being assessed
  • Interviews of people who know the person being assessed or interviews of the person
  • Direct assessment using formal or informal assessment tools
  • A review of previous assessments and other records