How is the evaluation of Autism Spectrum Disorders?

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) could be detected at an early age and for this it is necessary that it be a specialized professional with extensive experience who is in charge of carrying it out, since it has been possible to observe cases of children who do not receive a diagnosis until they reach a certain age.

When carrying out the evaluation of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), one usually begins with an interview with the parents and the child as passed, also carrying out another one in set. Once the initial interviews have been carried out, it is when different tests would be carried out to make a more precise evaluation (p. g., tests on cognitive development, assessment of attentional development, standardized ASD tests such as the ADI-R or ADOS-2, etc.).

In this article we will explain in more detail how everything usually develops the assessment process for autism spectrum disorders by professionals.

• Related article: "Children's therapy: what is it and what are its benefits"

Characteristics of the evaluation of Autism Spectrum Disorders

It is important to highlight that the evaluation of autism spectrum disorders can become quite complex and it is for this reason that the professionals who are in charge of it previously They should be widely trained and trained for it, being common to start with the help of an expert until they have enough experience to be able to make an evaluation. correct.

The diagnostic process, together with the previous evaluation of autism spectrum disorders, usually lasts several hours., and it may even be necessary to extend it over several sessions if necessary in those cases in which the detection raises doubts for the professionals; therefore, more diagnostic tests would need to be performed and thus could provide a more accurate assessment and diagnosis.

• You may be interested in: "The 4 types of autism and their characteristics"

the initial interview

Before carrying out the corresponding tests for the evaluation of autism spectrum disorders, an initial interview must be carried out. Therefore, It usually begins with an interview with the parents and another with the child separately..

The interview with the parents usually begins with questions related to the reasons why they have come to seeking professional help, in addition to analyzing possible previous reports that could have been previously carried out by another professional (eg. For example, the psychologist of the school the child attends and/or the testimony of a teacher).

Immediately afterwards, an anamnesis would be carried out, asking the parents about their child so that the professional who evaluated, you could get a general idea about the possible problems that the child could have and how these interfere with his environment in different areas and for this they would have to ask them a series of questions about relevant aspects of the life of the child (p. (e.g., behavior at home and at school, relationship with other children their age, hobbies, tastes, routine flexibility or day-to-day difficulties, etc.).

Regarding the subject of hobbies and tastes, it is important to gather information especially in order to know if the child has very specific tastes or very restricted interests, since it is common for people with autism to have very restricted interests and spend long hours focused on them.

Subsequently, another anamnesis will be carried out on the child directly, collecting information similar to that their parents were consulted in order to be able to contrast later and thus obtain the most precise information possible. Also, while this interview is taking place it is important pay attention to certain non-verbal details of the child, such as eye contact while communicating with the professional who is carrying out the evaluation with him and other details such as whether there are motor stereotypes (eg. g., constantly twisting fingers, shaking hands, etc.), or echolalia, among others.

• Related article: "The different types of interview and their characteristics"

Assessment of autism spectrum disorders

Once the initial interview with the parents and the child has been carried out, a series of tests and specific tests will be carried out for the evaluation of autism spectrum disorders (p. For example, tests of cognitive development, the D2 test or others that are usually used in order to carry out an evaluation of their logical-mathematical, linguistic capacity, etc.).

1. Cognitive development

In the process of evaluating autism spectrum disorders, it is important that tests are carried out to assess development cognitive function of the child, since these serve to delve into certain aspects that could have been dealt with in the initial interview and could also help to detect other psychopathologies, if any, in addition to ASD or any possible problem or difficulty related to development evolutionary.

To carry out the evaluation of cognitive development, tests such as the Merrill Palmer Scale that serves with the little ones in order to evaluate their development in a global way, being important to pay special interest to analyze some aspects such as the symbolic game or the theory of the mind.

On the other hand, it is also frequent that the Leiter International Manipulative Scale is used, which allows an assessment of nonverbal attention, as well as certain cognitive and neuropsychological skills, among others. In addition, it is common to use the Wechsler Scales (p. g., WPPSI, WISC) that allow an assessment of intelligence and certain cognitive abilities.

• You may be interested in: "Cognition: definition, main processes and functioning"

2. The ASD assessment

The evaluation through standardized tests will be one of the most important within the evaluation process of autism spectrum disorders. These tests would be basically two: the ADI-R test, which is carried out with the parents, and the ADOS-2 test, which would be the one that would be carried out with the child or adolescent.

With the ADI-R test, an interview is conducted with the aim of exhaustively analyzing certain aspects that could be used to evaluate the TEA as they could be true signs or indications observed by the parents or even by the teachers and the psychologist of the school to which their child attends son. In this test, some relevant areas are mainly evaluated: social interactions, behavior, language, communication, possible restricted and repetitive interests, etc.

On the other hand, with the ADOS-2 test, the same areas would be evaluated as with the ADI-R test, only in this case the procedure would be carried out with the child or adolescent. This test would be focused on the objective of looking for various characteristics related to ASD cases (p. g., restricted and repetitive interests).

3. Assessment of social development and adaptive skills

When carrying out the evaluation of autism spectrum disorders it is important that resort to the use of tests that assess the social development and also the adaptive abilities of the child. For it, worth noting is the Vineland Scale, which is used to carry out a detailed evaluation of personal and social skills that are important and very useful in people's daily lives.

On the other hand, within this area of ​​evaluation, we must not forget the Australian Scale, a 24-question test that professionals use in order to assess certain behaviors that are quite common in people with ASD. This would be a test that could be carried out with both the parents and the child's teachers.

4. Assessment of communication and language development

It is essential to carry out specific tests to analyze the communicative development and language when carrying out the entire process of evaluation of spectrum disorders autistic. For it, the CSBS Scale is used (Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scale) which consists of a questionnaire made up of 24 questions that parents should answer in order to detect some important warning signs of the child; being a test that is carried out with the parents of the youngest children (from 6 to 24 months of age).

In the event that the child was between 18 months and 7 years of age, it would be more advisable to resort to other tests such as the Reynell III Language Development Scales. These scales are often used to detect possible problems related to language and communication.

• You may be interested in: "The 10 basic communication skills"

5. Assessment of attentional development

Finally, in the process of evaluating autism spectrum disorders, it is also important that specific tests are carried out that can be used to assess attentional development. For it, It is quite frequent that the D2 attention test is used, a test that is made up of a time trial that serves to measure the speed of processing of the child, of the following of instructions and also of the execution of the task that has been ordered.

Now that we have seen what the evaluation process for autism spectrum disorders consists of, we will have been able to observe that it is a fairly complex process and hence the importance of it being carried out by qualified professionals with experience.

It should be noted that also This evaluation can be completed with other tests that allow a more detailed diagnosis to be obtained, such as the SCL-90-R test., commonly known as the "90-symptom test", which is used to assess symptoms that could be present in each case since this test allows to evaluate several dimensions (eg. g., antiaging, interpersonal sensitivity, phobias, etc.).