Diagnostic Team
An allied health professional who conducts language and pragmatic communication assessments during an evaluation.
Who is a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP)?
An assessment component that maps out a child's grammar, vocabulary, and sentence production.
What is a Language Assessment?
A brief parent-report screening tool widely used at 18- and 24-month checkups to examine autism likelihood.
What is M-CHAT?
A condition characterized by prominent hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention that frequently overlaps with ASD.
What is ADHD?
A demographic group that frequently flies under the radar due to camouflaging or masking their social traits.
Who are Girls/Women?
The primary source for a child's early developmental milestones and home behaviors during an intake.
Who are Parents/Caregivers?
The timeline of milestones collected from caregivers at the start of an evaluation.
What is Developmental History?
A gold-standard, play-and-interaction based direct observation tool with strict scoring.
What is ADOS-2?
A diagnosis given when severe social communication deficits are presented but restricted, repetitive behaviors are absent.
What is Social Communication Disorder?
A significant barrier that occurs when a monolingual English clinician evaluates a non-English-speaking family without a translator.
What is a Language Barrier?
A professional who provides daily behavioral observations from an educational setting.
Who is a Teacher?
An evaluation area focused on ruling out underlying genetic syndromes, seizures, or hearing difficulties.
What is Medical History?
A comprehensive, semi-structured clinical interview conducted entirely with caregivers to calculate a score.
What is ADI-R?
A term used when an individual meets full criteria for both ASD and another condition like ADHD simultaneously.
What are Co-occurring Conditions?
An error made when a provider strictly checks off test scores without applying any clinical observation or flexibility.
What is an Over-reliance on Test Scores?
An allied professional specializing in assessing sensory processing and fine motor needs.
Who is an Occupational Therapist (OT)?
The evauation process where a clinician actively monitors the client's behaviors and social interactions in real-time.
What is Direct Observation?
Professionals use this standardized rating scale to observe behavior and distinguish ASD from other developmental needs.
What is CARS-2?
A diagnosis involving low cognitive test scores and impaired adaptive functioning across all life domains.
What is an Intellectual Disability?
A systemic issue where cultural differences in eye contact or parenting are labeled as abnormal by an evaluator?
What is a Lack of Cultural Humility?
A medical doctor specializing in childhood development who can formally diagnose ASD.
Who is a Developmental Pediatrician?
An assessment domain that measures a child's real-world independence and daily living skills.
What is Adaptive Functioning?
The clinical attribute that must balance test cutoffs to prevent missed diagnoses when standardized tools fail to capture a presentation.
What is Clinical Judgment?
The psychological impact of early childhood neglect or abuse that can manifest as social detachment or sensory dysregulation.
What is Complex Trauma?
A provider-side limitation that heavily increases the likelihood of misidentifying atypical or subtle presentations of ASD.
What is Limited Clinician Experience?