The need for accurate autism assessment
Currently there is a big divide in the way autism is assessed and diagnosed in Australia, and this may depend on who you also speak to! These issues are often exemplified in the NSW Central West and regional/rural Australia due to a lack of services, with many needing to travel to the cities to access this
Autism testing can be done in a variety of ways. One way, which we are seeing a rise in, is purely seeing a Psychiatrist or Paediatrician. Some services online or face to face, will take time to do a developmental history, and collate information to arrive at a diagnosis, if they see fit. This often is much lower cost, but the barriers can be around inaccurate diagnosis without formal testing, which we feel is the gold standard.
This will often involve screeners and a few appointments to be able to confirm the diagnosis. Another barrier we are also seeing here is, if someone is applying for services such as the NDIS, they also need ample evidence how this affects someone's day to day functioning to be able to qualify for funding.
The issue here is, if there are other conditions that have been missed, or misdiagnosed. This can cause longer term complications, especially around the medications and supports someone receives. Over time, we have seen a rise of medicolegal issues as a result, as people have had long term medication side effects, social exclusion and even intense restrictive practices put in place.
This also affects how supports are delivered, as different conditions may require different, or slightly modified approaches to suit the person and how they are. If the wrong diagnosis is applied, someone may be receiving support that can be inappropriate, or not properly catered to what they need.
Thorough autism assessment supports this using different tools, as it looks for specific traits that stem back to early childhood, as well as other features such as sensory sensitivities and social barriers. Ideally (though hard in a regional area) this should be accompanied by Speech Therapy reports, looking for things such as Echolalia, and Occupational Therapy reports around day to day functioning, as these are what is used to both determine the presence of a diagnosis and level of this, too.
After this, either a Psychiatrist or Paediatrician (or a Clinical Psychologist with ample experience in diagnosis) should be involved to arrive at a diagnosis. At the same time, if other diagnoses are present or suspected, these should be concurrently tested to either include or rule out certain features
Other common conditions to test for are Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD, which we can also do testing for). Cognitive testing, through Psychology to check for conditions such as learning issues or Intellectual Disability. This helps build the right level of support, as one condition and easily affects another.
We aim to provide timely and responsive testing, to provide reports as soon as possible, as there are currently large wait times in Orange, Wagga Wagga and Canberra (and the wider ACT) for testing.