Autism Diagnostic Clinic

Our Autism Diagnostic Clinic excels in care and education.

To achieve this, specialists in MMI's integrated Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders:

• Provide high quality clinical services (e.g., diagnostic evaluations and treatment) for patients with autism spectrum disorder and related disorders, their families and caregivers.
• Improve access to care and outcomes for children by training the next generation of providers in best practices for evaluating, diagnosing and treating autism spectrum disorder.

Eligibility

This clinic is appropriate for children as young as 16 months of age through late adolescence.

Autism Comprehensive Clinical Evaluation

• A diagnostic evaluation at MMI is a two-part process that includes two appointments.
• The first appointment involves a clinical interview, and the second appointment is when the comprehensive evaluation (testing) takes place.

Clinical Interview Appointment

The first appointment is an interview completed with you (parent or guardian) and your child, either in person or through a video appointment (i.e., telehealth). During this appointment, we will ask you questions about your child’s development and observe your child.

The interview appointment generally takes about 45 to 90 minutes and helps clinicians come up with an appropriate assessment plan for your child and family.

Testing Appointment

After the clinical interview appointment, most children are scheduled for a testing appointment. The tests administered are unique to your child, but in general, these tests typically include:

• Developmental or cognitive assessment.
• Assessment of social interaction and play skills.
• EarliPoint^TM*
• Adaptive skills assessment.
• Social-Emotional assessment.
• Speech Language evaluation.**
• Feedback session with caregivers to discuss any diagnoses provided, along with recommendations.***

The testing appointment typically lasts between 3 to 4 hours. A summary of diagnoses and recommendations is typically provided the day of the evaluation, time permitting. For older children and adolescents, we may schedule a lunch break if we think that testing will take 5 or more hours.

* EarliPoint may be used with toddlers.

** Speech language pathologists may be included on evaluations depending on your child’s needs.

*** Occasionally, clinicians may decide to gather additional information before conducting the feedback session. If this is the case for your child, your clinician will discuss options for you and your family the day of your appointment.