Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Assessment
Assisting young people and their families to recognise and embrace their unique selves.
Autism Assessment Sydney
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), commonly known as autism, is a neurodevelopmental condition that occurs in people of all ages. While many autistic people are diagnosed as children or teenagers, some people are not diagnosed until adulthood— if at all.
At The Young Mind Clinic, we recognise how important an early diagnosis is to gain access to strategies or recommendations for modification and accommodations to increase success within the school, home and the community. As young people grow, their identity develops and their idea of who they are expands. Having accurate information about themselves can be an important step in their development and their identity formation. As such, we offer comprehensive autism assessments utilising internationally recognised tools for children and adolescents aged up to 18 years.
What is an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Assessment?
An Autism assessment typically uses tools like the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (ADOS-2) and the Autism Diagnostic Interview Schedule, Revised (ADI-R). We utilise the ADOS-2 for children from 4 -18 years old, while the ADI-R (a standardised interview with the primary caregiver) is used to gain valuable developmental and behavioural information from the young person’s parents or carers. These tools are considered among the ‘gold standard’ tools available and are often required when applying for official funding from programs like the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
An Autism assessment also includes measuring a young person’s adaptive behaviour to understand how a child functions on a daily basis. We may also use other rating scales to help us make recommendations or to identify other related conditions, such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
What to Expect During an Autism Assessment
An Autism assessment typically takes place over several sessions on separate days. The initial consultation will be with the parent/caregiver and without the child present, where you can explain your concerns and what you’ve noticed regarding their behaviour. This will help us determine whether a formal assessment may be necessary.
Following this, we will conduct further assessment sessions with and without your child present. These assessments will include a structured parent or carer interview (ADI-R) which is undertaken without the child present and a testing session with the child ( utilising the ADOS-2)resembling developmentally appropriate play and conversation.
Why Choose The Young Mind Clinic?
Individualised and Neuro-affirming Care
The Young Mind Clinic is able to offer individualised support, providing assessments and ongoing therapy, for children and teenagers up to 18 years old. We also recognise and embrace our client’s unique attributes and support them to find their ideal path.
Specific Expertise
Our autism assessment team have a specific understanding of young people with autism and extensive training in gold-standard assessment tools, bringing a wealth of knowledge about child development to their practice.
Registered with AHPRA
All of our autism assessment team are Registered Psychologists with a Clinical or Educational/ Developmental endorsement with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), allowing them to provide Medicare-eligible services, including those referred under Complex Neurodevelopmental items as well as being accepted as single diagnosticians under the Autism Guidelines.
Your Autism Spectrum Disorder Questions Answered
What is Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)?
Autism Spectrum Disorder, commonly referred to as autism or ASD, is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects about one in 150 people. Autism is a lifelong diagnosis that may be picked up when a person is a child or a teenager, or not diagnosed until adulthood, if at all.
This is because up until recently, autism was often misunderstood or misdiagnosed, and many autistic people went unnoticed. They may have experienced difficulty and not known why or had the means to understand how to access support or accommodations. However, over time, our understanding of autism has evolved, leading to greater awareness.
What are the signs and symptoms of autism?
A diagnosis of autism requires both difficulties with reciprocal social communication and social interaction as well as a restricted and repetitive pattern of behaviour, interests or activities.
Importantly, any signs or symptoms need to be interpreted by a trained professional to ensure that they meet the criteria for pervasiveness throughout the lifespan and impairment of everyday functioning. A professional can also determine whether or not those characteristics are better explained by something else (for example another developmental issue or mental health concern).
A young person with autism may be presenting with some of the following signs:
Social domain:
- Difficulty initiating social interactions or difficulty responding to other’s attempts to engage socially.
- Challenges in understanding and maintaining relationships.
- Difficulties adjusting behaviour to suit the context.
- Decreased interest in social interactions.
- It might be hard to engage in to and fro conversation.
- Reduced sharing of interests or imaginative play as well as reduced sharing of emotions and less mirroring of the other person’s emotional responses.
- Interactions with others may centre on narrow specific interests.
- Unusual nonverbal communication eg reduced eye contact, lack of use of gestures, difficulty understanding gestures of others, reduced facial expression.
Restricted, repetitive behaviour domain:
- An inflexibility of behaviour that interferes significantly for the person in at least one context, eg the insistence on sameness, routines or ritualised patterns of behaviour.
- Restricted or fixated interests that differ from same-aged peers in intensity or focus.
- It may be a challenge to switch between activities.
- Organisation and planning may make undertaking things independently more challenging.
- Difficulty coping with change may have impacts in one or a variety of contexts.
- Distress in response to changing focus or action.
- Either over or under-reactivity to sensory input eg aversion to certain textures vs apparent indifference to pain or other stimuli.
Why is assessment important?
A comprehensive assessment is important to be able to properly consider what interventions and supports are most beneficial (if at all). Self-understanding is important in terms of reducing internalised shame as well as shaping a positive neurodivergent identity.
Understanding that differences exist because a person’s brain is wired differently, as opposed to not “doing something right” or “trying hard enough” can be hugely empowering.
There can also be great strength in difference, as neurodivergence can lead someone to be particularly skilled in certain tasks or interest areas. Just like the neurotypical population, there is much diversity within the neurodivergent universe.
At The Young Mind Clinic, we hope to harness any individual’s strengths (neurodivergent or neurotypical) to help them find their way and help those important to them support this strength whilst overcoming or managing the individual’s challenges.
What are the different levels of support a young person can receive?
There are now guidelines in the form of ‘levels’ which determine if and how much support a young person may receive at school or whether they may attract NDIS funding (typically levels 2 and 3). It may also open up access to specific Medicare items (created to assist individuals not meeting NDIS criteria – typically level 1).
These levels are:
Level 1: Requiring support – an autistic person with the lowest severity level will experience difficulties around social communication unless support is in place. Their level of inflexibility can cause significant interference in one or more contexts and independence may be hampered by difficulties planning or organising.
Level 2: Requiring substantial support – an autistic person at level 2 experiences social impairment even with supports in place and may restrict communication to their own needs and narrow special interests. It will likely be evident to those outside the person’s closer sphere that they experience difficulty with inflexibility of behaviour, change or other restricted/repetitive behaviours.
Level 3: Requiring very substantial support – an autistic person requiring this level of support is likely to have very limited social interactions and communication around meeting their own needs. This level is also associated with extreme difficulty dealing with change which impacts all facets of life with a great deal of distress.
The Young Mind Clinic
Autism Assessments for Children of All Ages
Recognising and diagnosing autism as early as possible is thought to play a significant role in improving an autistic person’s quality of life. The answers that autism assessments also provide may assist parents, family members, teachers, and friends to better understand your child. Whether you suspect your preschooler or your teenager may be on the autism spectrum, our experienced psychologists provide assessments for children from preschool age through to older adolescence. To find out more or to book an assessment, please contact us today.
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Contact us today to schedule a consultation and discover how our tailored treatments can support your child’s mental health and development.