What makes a good diagnostic assessment?
Because children and adults with ASDs have such varying profiles, most good diagnostic assessments provide a description of strengths and weaknesses, including attention to children’s language, cognitive and other skills. These factors are often as important as the actual diagnosis of an ASD in setting appropriate goals and intervention plans. In the end, the most important factors in a diagnosis are the experience and care of the diagnostician. Many different healthcare professionals can diagnose autism including a child psychiatrist, clinical psychologist, developmental pediatrician, or a speech-language pathologist. In most cases, more than one discipline should be involved, if not at the same visit, at least in communicating their perspectives with each other. A diagnostic assessment for ASD should involve both a history and a description of current behavior by a caregiver, as well as direct observation of the behavior of the child or adult suspected of having ASD by an experienced
