Autism Spectrum Disorder Assessments for College Students Canberra

Please note that Dr Connor is not currently accepting referrals for children and adoelscents, only college-aged students and adults.

 Please always check the main page of Dr Connor's website for more accurate information as the main page is updated more regularly  than the specific diagnostic-area pages, 

Please email your inquiry, rather than phone, as this will yield a faster response.

[Please note that former clients re-presenting will be accommodated, if possible, using cancellations.]

The process for undertaking an AutismSpectrum Disorder assessment involves the following:

FIrst stage

• a comprehensive interview (usually 3 hours) based on the Autism Diagnostic Interview – Revised (ADI-R) in which a focussed comprehensive development and psycho-social history is obtained.
• (If there is little evidence of ASD, it is possible to proceed no further after this interview. In this case, discussion is held as to the best way to proceed. However, in most cases, clients proceed to the next stage.).

Next stages:

Psychometric inventoriues are provided for completion.

If ASD seems to be a possibility the following will take place:

• An interview is also held with a well-known classroom teacher (one hour);
• A structured interview with the adolescent. This is usually of 1.5- hour duration.
• A cognitive assessment - it is important in any ASD assessment where it is necessary to determine the cognitive functioning of the child. Sometimes, school counsellors/psychologists are able to do this part of the assessment (or may have already competed this). Sometimes, school performance is sufficient to ascertain cognitive functioning. However, if this is the case, the results must be available to me for analysis and inclusion in this report.
• Writing of report. After all the data is collected, a comprehensive report is written  and includes consideration of the information against the diagnostic criteria for ASD.Payment for the report is required electronically prior to the feedback session.

The cost of the report is variable, depending on the amount of data/information that needs inclusion and the hours spent writing.  Often, two full days can be devoted to analysis and writing this report.  However the final cost does not represent the full number of hours of writing and analysis.

• A feedback session is usually then scheduled to discuss the information collected, and the results, conclusions and recommendations.As this appointment is not scheduled ahead, it is often not within standard practice times, less stable, and thus may be subject to change at short notice.

This process for the student assessment is represented in the table below

STAGE OF ASSESSMENT	TIME TAKEN
Initial Interview with parents only [ADI-R](inventories are provided at this interview) Interview with student	3 hours   1 hour
ON THE ADVICE OF THE CLINICIAN, PARENTS MAY NOT CONTINUE AFTER THIS SESSION as the interview may provide enough direction itself.
Interview with teacher	1 hour
Sometimes home observation.	1 hour
COGNITIVE ASSESSMENT ( MAY NOT NEED TO BE DONE)	2.5 hours
ASD Report: Analysis of data/inventories, information from interview, observation and writing of report	Can often be two to three days (21 hours) equivalent.
Any other assessments, meetings, or observations required. Review of extensive previous reports will also be at the hourly rate. The need for these will be explained to parents prior to conducting them.

Please note that the cognitive assessment is a separate assessment and cost (detailed separately).  Sometimes this is undertaken by the school psychologist – and in these cases, parents need to provide the report written by the school psychologist.  Please note that a diagnosis cannot be made merely from a cognitive assessment.  However this assessment provides additional information about the child – in terms of whether he/she is high or low functioning.

Often the ASD assessment process can span 4 to 8 weeks, from beginning to end, as sometimes the school observation can take some time to organise, and the analysis and writing can often span over several weeks.   I anticipate that. If there are any questions associated with this assessment, please contact me on 0417 452 365 or on my e mail.

PLEASE NOTE THAT diagnosing a student with ASD carries with it SIGNIFICANT RESPONSIBILITY.  THUS, IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT A RECOMMENDATION FOR A DIAGNOSIS SHOULD ONLY BE MADE BY THOSE WHO HAVE UNDERTAKEN THE SPECIALIST TRAINING IN THIS FIELD.