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Smiles All Round
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Autism Assessments

Autism Team Diagnostic Assessment (Psychologist and Occupational Therapist)

At Smiles All Round, we provide thorough and individualised assessments for Autism to help you and your family better understand your child’s unique needs. Below is an outline of the assessment process.

Ultimately, the assessment will provide clarity about whether your child’s behaviours and developmental patterns align with Autism. A formal diagnosis can be an essential step in accessing appropriate services, educational support and interventions. While also  helping you to better understand your child’s needs and how to support and advocate for them.

Initial Consultation
The process begins with an initial consultation with you (parent(s)/caregiver(s)) to discuss your child’s developmental history, medical background, sensory processing abilities, emotional regulation, and educational progress. During this meeting (approximately 90 minutes), we will explore your child’s strengths, areas of need and any concerns you may have. This helps us gather important background information to guide the assessment process.

Questionnaire for Educational Staff
To gather additional information, we will send questionnaires to the educational staff who know your child best in the educational setting. These questionnaires will help us understand your child’s behaviour, social interactions, communication skills and overall functioning in school.

Caregiver Questionnaires
You will also be asked to complete several caregiver questionnaires that provide further insights into your child’s development, social behaviour and emotional regulation. These questionnaires help us gather additional information to inform the assessment.

Autism-Specific Caregiver Interview
You will participate in a very thorough autism-specific caregiver interview, which typically lasts approximately 2 hours. This is an opportunity to discuss your child’s behaviour patterns, social communication skills, sensory preferences and any other relevant observations you have made at home, in social situations, or in other environments.

Child Observations and Assessment Tools
Your child will undergo observations with a Psychologist and Occupational Therapist in a structured environment and various assessment tools will be administered to better understand their communication, social skills and behaviour. These observations help us gain insights into how your child interacts with others and responds to different situations. We aim to create a safe, comfortable and welcome space for you and your child when conducting our observations. Often during this time, we will play games with your child, talk about topics of interest and help them to feel comfortable and safe to interact with our clinicians.

Educational Site Observations (as needed)
In some cases, it may be necessary to conduct observations at your child’s educational setting. This helps us understand how your child behaves and interacts in the school environment, with a focus on social engagement, learning and emotional regulation. These observations typically take between 60 to 120 minutes.

Cognitive Testing (if needed)
As part of the assessment, a cognitive test may be administered by a Psychologist (approximately 60 minutes). This test helps evaluate your child’s thinking, problem-solving, and memory skills, providing a clearer picture of their cognitive abilities. See our Cognitive Assessment page for more information.

Comprehensive Report and Recommendations
Once all assessment components are complete, we will compile a detailed report that includes a summary of findings and specific recommendations tailored to your child’s needs.

Feedback Session with Parents/Caregivers
After the report is finalised, we will schedule a feedback session with you to discuss the results. During this meeting (up to 50 minutes), we will review the findings, provide insights into your child’s strengths and challenges and discuss recommendations for support. You will also have the opportunity to ask any questions.

Feedback Session with Educational Site 
We can arrange a feedback session with your child’s teacher/educational team to share the assessment results and discuss how to best support your child in the school environment (additional fee applies).

Exploration of Other Factors (if applicable)
During the assessment process, we may explore other factors that could impact your child’s thinking, processing, social interactions, and emotional regulation. This may include considerations of other conditions such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which could also affect your child’s behaviour and learning.

Ongoing Support
After the assessment, we can help you connect with appropriate resources, such as recommendations for interventions, educational support plans, or referrals to other professionals if needed.

Throughout the process, we strive to create a warm, non-judgmental environment where you feel supported, heard, and involved. The process of going through an Autism Assessment can be daunting and scary for some families and we aim to make the process as easy as possible. We recognise that every child is unique, with their own strengths and we aim to provide personalised insights and practical recommendations tailored to your child’s specific needs. This may include strategies to help with social skills, emotional regulation, communication, academic performance and managing sensory sensitivities. The recommendations will be designed to empower you as a family to better support your child’s development and help them thrive at home, in school, and in the community.

If you have scheduled an assessment, or are about to, here is a "Parent Preparation" checklist that we've prepared as a guide for you:

  • What you will need to organise prior to your assessment session:

    • If possible a consult with a Paediatrician/Psychiatrist to arrange a “Helping Children with Autism access to diagnosis and treatment plan” which allows for up to 4 assessment sessions that can be claimed through Medicare
    • Mental Health Care Plan (MHCP) by GP/Paediatrician
    • Enhanced Primary Care Plan (Also known as “Chronic Disease Management plan”) if eligible through a GP
    • Completed Smiles All Round Forms
    • Any relevant documents or reports about your child

My child has an Autism Diagnosis, what do we do next?

Sometimes it can be very overwhelming to know what to do following your child receiving a diagnosis of Autism. Below are some suggestions of next steps to consider:  

  • Contact NDIS www.ndis.gov.au or 1800 800 110 to commence the application process to confirm eligibility for funding. Prepare all relevant documentation (e.g., AUTISM assessment reports).
  • Complete a referral to Autism SA. Registering with Autism SA (autismsa.org.au) means that you will able to access support and services either now or in the future.  This will require forwarding copies of both diagnostic reports to Autism SA. A practitioner that completed the assessment can help guide you through this process. A referral form needs to accompany the reports.  This can be completed by following this link: autismsa.org.au/referral-forms. If you ask your practitioner, they can email a copy of their reports directly to Autism SA. 
  • Communicate with your child’s educational setting and share copies of your child’s Autism assessment report/s. This will help your childcare/kinder/school staff to consider applying for funding to support your child and/or develop a set of goals that will help to ensure that your child has the best educational experience as possible.
  • Contact Centrelink and apply for Carers Allowance and Carers Payment. You will need a professional to complete some components. This means you may have to schedule an appointment with your Doctor or Psychologist (or another practitioner – directions regarding who can complete the “specialist” component will be on the forms) to complete their component of the form. Please bare in mind that many practitioners will require advanced notice (2-6 weeks) to complete paperwork and it is unlikely that they can complete documentation immediately. 
  • While you wait to receive confirmation of eligibility for NDIS funding, you may consider contacting Carers SA who can offer support to families and individuals.  Individuals who are carers and do not have NDIS funding are eligible for support through Carers SA. Follow this link to discover what they can offer carers-sa.asn.au.
  • Start to develop a “wish list” (goals) for your child and family. Think about what would help to make a positive difference on a daily basis. These goals can be used for NDIS planning, educational support, home support and accessing the community. This will also help to guide you as to what service/s you may need to access sooner than later (e.g., psychology, speech pathology, occupational therapy, physiotherapy).
  • When you are ready, do a little exploring about Autism. Do your research by accessing reputable sources such as Autism SA, Amaze, Raelene Dundon, Kristy Forbes and reading books like, “Inside Aspergers looking out.”  
  • Raelene Dundon, a Melbourne based Psychologist and friend of Lana-Joy's has written some useful books.  A good starting point could be to read, "Talking To Your Chilld About Their Autism Diagnosis".  For further information about Raelene's books you can go to okeydokey.com.au/product/talkingwithyourchildabouttheirautismdiagnosis/.
  • Give yourself permission to grieve. It is a normal to experience grief after discovering your loved one has a diagnosis.
  • If you are unsure of any step in trying to “navigate” the Autism pathway, please ask questions by emailing our team admin@smilesallround.com.au. It can feel very overwhelming at times. We are here to support you and your family!
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