Autism Evaluation

Today we had our appointment for the autism evaluation. The appointment started at 9 with a developmental pediatrician, a speech therapist, occupational therapist and behavioral therapist. They took turns playing with her and trying to get her to do certain activities in order to assess her. They observed from behind a two way mirror and we answered tons of questions. By 11 they were done and went to compile the results. We waited for 45 minutes or so and then the developmental pediatrician came back to talk to us. Kaitlyn was a champ! Very patient! We didn't leave to head home until 12:30. Poor kiddo was tired.

The diagnosis: Provisional Autism Spectrum Disorder. And Mixed/Global Developmental Delays. The developmental pediatrician was not willing to definitively diagnose. She felt like she definitely has some red flags, but she also sees so many sensory processing issues that they might be getting in the way of her development.

They assessed her developmental in each of 7 areas in order to determine her developmental age - gross motor, fine motor, self help, problem solving, social emotional, receptive language and expressive language. Her strengths were her gross motor and fine motor. Her weakest areas were self help (driven by the fact that she doesn't feed herself) and expressive language (driven by the fact that she doesn't speak or point).

She was given a 34.5 on the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS). A minimum score of 30 is the cutoff for a diagnosis of autism on the mild end of the spectrum. Her score puts her in the mild range.

Her DSM-IV-TR (standardized criteria to help diagnose) was a 5. A score of 6 or more is considered on the spectrum.

They recommend more of the therapy she is currently getting - speech therapy 2-3 times per week and occupational therapy 2 times per week. They also want us to add behavioral therapy 2-3 times per week. Most likely we will have to do this through a private company as I don't think the agency we are currently working with can meet that frequency (and they don't offer behavioral therapy). We are to return for another visit like this one in 6-12 months.

Lots to process... but hopeful to have a new plan in mind.