My Autism Assessment

Part of my job is to spend time with children and young people like you to decide if you might be autistic. We call this an autism assessment.

You might be wondering what that means?

Normally, you and your parents have come to us because you might be finding things difficult at home or at school, you might sometimes find friendships and talking to people tricky, or find it ‘too much’ when unplanned events occur and change happens. Other things that might be going on for you are that you are sensitive to things like loud noises, the textures of clothing, or food, or bright lights.

These are just some of the things that autistic people may need help to manage or overcome, but every autistic person is different from each other, and some situations might be easier or harder to manage than others.

You might know a bit about autism already, or you might not, and that’s OK.  And not all challenges you might experience mean that you are autistic.

We will not know until we complete the assessment.

What does the assessment involve?

My job, with a couple of other people, is to see if all the information we learn about you tells us if you are autistic or not.

This means speaking to your parents and asking your teachers to fill in a questionnaire for us. Then we invite you to come into our clinic room to do the ADOS while your Mum or Dad wait outside until we are finished.

ADOS stands for Autistic Diagnostic Observation Schedule.  In the ADOS we will do some activities together such as puzzles, looking at books and playing with toys. We will also chat about things you’re interested in, and I will ask you some questions to discover how you think about things, like friendships, family and school.  It is not a test but more like a chance for me to get to know you a little bit - you do not have to talk about anything that you do not want to. The whole ADOS takes about an hour.

Once we have met you for the ADOS, we will write a report that says all the information we know about you that might or might not suggest autism.

Those of us who work together, then discuss all the information we have learnt so we can make our decision.  We will always do our best to make the right decision for you based on all the information we have gathered. After this, I will speak to your parents to let them know the decision. Sometimes I speak to you too.  It is completely up to you to tell other people about the decision that has been made.

I will have a follow-up meeting with your parents, which you and your teacher are invited to join. We will discuss the decision, and any questions can be asked, and we can talk about things that might help you and support you at home and school.  

We want to be sure that you feel reassured, confident and happy with what we decide and more than that, that we can guide you with next steps that make life easier.

Lara Harris
Autism Advocacy & Support Specialist