Diagnosis/Identification in Young Children

In some situations, usually with a very young child, the evaluator will ask the parents to remain in the room for some part of the direct assessment. The purpose of having the parents in the room could be to help the child to be less anxious, to facilitate communication, or to provide an opportunity for the assessment professional to observe interactions between the parent and child.  

The number of sessions varies widely depending on the setting and the approach used to diagnose or identify autism. The autism evaluation may last from 1 to 2 hours to over 8 hours.