An autism assessment for children above the age of 6 (also called a clinical diagnostic assessment (CDA)) involves the following components as outlined by the B.C diagnostic standards:

• File review of medical and school documents (e.g., school report cards, assessments from other health providers if applicable)
• Clinical intake with parents/caregivers: A semi-structured interview will be conducted with the child’s main caregivers in order to collect information about the child’s birth and developmental history (e.g., age when they took their first steps, age when they spoke their first words) as well as relevant educational and medical information.
• Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R): A semi-structured interview will be conducted with the child’s main caregivers. The purpose of this interview is to assess for features of autism that occurred early on in the child’s development (i.e., ages 4-5) and current day.
• Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule – Second Ed. (ADOS-2): This is a play-based semi-structured assessment with your child. The purpose of this assessment is to examine their social communication and interaction and to assess for the presence of restricted/repetitive behaviours

Sometimes, the CDA alone is enough to address the question of autism. However, for some children, the challenges they have with social interaction may be due to other difficulties such as intellectual developmental disorder or a specific learning disability. As a result, Dr. Ho offers comprehensive autism assessments that also assesses your child’s cognitive and adaptive abilities. This will help us to understand your child’s thinking and adaptive functioning profile, which in turn, can help with tailoring interventions to specific areas of need.

What to expect in an autism assessment with Dr. Ho:

• Two assessment dates: For most of my autism assessments, I complete the parent interview portions (i.e., clinical interview and ADI-R) virtually on a separate day as I understand that it can be hard to find childcare and many prefer to complete this in the comfort of their own home. However, I am also available to complete this portion in-person at the clinic if families prefer. In-person testing is usually completed in the clinic in one day.
• Timely diagnoses and feedback: Research shows that children who obtain an early diagnosis and early intervention obtain optimal outcomes. With majority of my assessments, I am able to provide families with the diagnostic outcome on the same day as in-person testing. In exceptional cases (i.e., requirement for additional testing or information from other sources), feedback is completed as soon as possible in order to not delay access to intervention.
  Comprehensive and easy-to-read reports: I strive to write meaningful and useful reports for parents so that it can be used to access appropriate school services and other interventions.