Our practice is designed to be your family's dedicated partner, simplifying the journey from diagnosis through treatment. We begin with a thorough diagnostic evaluation and adaptive skills test. We then provide referrals, manage medications (if needed), and follow your child closely.

Your Child's Autism Evaluation: What to Expect at Each Visit

The full evaluation requires four one-hour visits. A careful diagnosis is made by putting together several different kinds of information: your child's history from birth, how your child interacts and communicates in person, and how your child manages everyday life at home and at school.

Our comprehensive, multi-method evaluation combines standard clinical interviews with three gold-standard assessment tools:

• The Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R)
• The Monteiro Interview Guidelines for Diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorder-Second Edition (MIGDAS-2)
• The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Third Edition (Vineland-3)

Each visit is one hour of face-to-face appointment time, and your child attends all four.

Important Note on Time & Insurance Billing

In addition to your one-hour appointment, the provider sets aside another cumulative hour around each visit to work on your child's report. This total combined time—your face-to-face hour plus the dedicated report-writing hour—is how each visit will be billed to insurance.

The evaluation is also designed to answer a bigger question than “is it autism or not.” Some children have a language disorder, a learning or intellectual disability, attention difficulties, anxiety, or hearing problems—either instead of autism or alongside it. Naming all of what is going on makes the plan more useful.

How the Work Is Shared Between You and Us

• Before certain visits: You will complete preparation at home. You will be given slides with instructions and sample questions so you know exactly what is coming.
• At the end of testing visits: You will receive a draft report generated with the help of an AI documentation tool. You take it home and review it for content accuracy.
• Behind the scenes: The provider reviews and corrects the same draft for diagnostic accuracy and formatting. No AI-drafted report becomes part of your child’s record without both reviews.

Your corrections genuinely change the report. Please do not skip this step.

Visit 1 — Initial Evaluation and Management (1 hour)

What happens:

• Review of your concerns and what prompted the referral.
• Review of your child’s full medical, psychological, psychiatric, and educational history—pregnancy and birth, milestones, any loss of skills, seizures, sleep, feeding, stomach problems, toileting, prior counseling or psychiatric care, current medications, family history, and how school or daycare is going.
• Recognition and accounting for intellectual deficiency and developmental delays. If these are found, an alternative diagnostic plan will be formulated and offered.
• Orders for anything needed before results can be interpreted—most importantly a recent hearing test and vision check, because hearing loss can look like autism.
• Setting up the ADI-R: you will be shown what the interview covers and given preparation slides and sample questions to work through at home before Visit 2.

What to bring: Baby book notes, school reports, past therapy/speech/psychological evaluations, medication list, and your questions.

What you get: A clear plan. Referrals to early intervention or school services can often begin now—you do not have to wait for the final diagnosis.

Your homework: Work through the ADI-R preparation slides. Look at photos and home videos. Write down ages and dates where possible.

Visit 2 — The ADI-R Interview (1 hour)

What it is: The Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) is a structured interview with you about your child’s development.

History & Validity: The ADI-R has been used globally for decades and is considered a gold-standard interview for confirming a medical diagnosis of autism. It focuses on behaviors typically seen during early childhood that strongly indicate autism spectrum conditions.

The questions focus on how your child relates to other people, how they communicate, and any repetitive routines, intense interests, or unusual movements—both now and when your child was younger.

Your child attends this visit too: Although questions are directed to you, your child is in the room—usually playing with toys or conversing with the interviewer. This lets the provider observe your child informally and begins building trust for the MIGDAS-2 session at Visit 3.

Why preparation matters: This interview normally takes well over two hours. It fits into one hour because you have already done the recall work at home. Coming unprepared may invalidate the results and require additional testing at a later date. It is completely fine to answer “I’m not sure”—accuracy matters more than certainty.

Your homework afterward: Review the draft ADI-R report and send corrections via our secure online messaging tools.

Your homework before Visit 3: Complete your MIGDAS-2 parent questionnaire and give the teacher questionnaire to your child’s teacher with as much lead time as possible.

Visit 3 — The MIGDAS-2 Session (1 hour)

What it is: A relaxed, sensory-based session with your child using the Monteiro Interview Guidelines for Diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorder - Second Edition (MIGDAS-2).

History & Validity: The MIGDAS-2 was developed by Dr. Marilyn Monteiro to provide a valid, structured method for naturalistic observation. It uses structured sensory-based interactions to elicit autism-specific behaviors and communication styles, validated across different developmental ages and ability levels.

How it complements the ADI-R: While the ADI-R is a structured look at the past (history), the MIGDAS-2 is a naturalistic look at the present. It focuses on sensory differences and directly observes how your child uses language, connects with a person, and expresses their interests.

The teacher questionnaire complements this by showing how your child behaves in school—a context you cannot observe. A teacher’s distinct perspective strengthens the report’s quality.

How to prepare: A well-rested, well-fed child gives the truest picture. Please do not coach or rehearse with your child—an ordinary day is what is most useful.

Functional Skills Assessment (Vineland-3 & DP-4)

This step measures the critical difference between your child’s potential to perform a skill versus their actual, consistent execution of that skill in daily life. Utilizing the Vineland-3 and DP-4, we objectively report on performance across communication, socialization, and practical daily living skills.

Standardized proof of functional need is critical for government agencies like DDA and Social Security. Our evaluation provides the standardized data needed to qualify for state waivers, paid caregiver hours, and disability payments.

Results and Feedback — Your Child’s Personalized Plan

The final stage represents the synthesis of everything we have learned. We integrate all evidence—developmental history, direct sensory observations, and functional skills—to construct a complete neurodevelopmental profile.

This meeting marks the launch of your child’s personalized plan:

• We establish SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound).
• We determine the frequency of follow-up visits.
• We provide clear instructions on how to proceed.

This comprehensive report serves as a universal key to services, establishing medical necessity for Speech, OT, and ABA therapy—making it harder for insurance providers to deny coverage. It also provides the clarity needed for IEP or Section 504 plans in schools.