From Diagnosis to Services
Getting a Diagnosis
An accurate diagnosis is important for everyone. A misdiagnosis or incomplete diagnosis can prevent you from accessing beneficial care. Over-diagnosing can keep other people from being able to receive care because service providers become filled to capacity.
What should you look for when getting a diagnosis?
Seek a professional with a solid background in autism diagnosis who will provide multiple, diverse assessments. Make sure they are respected by other medical professionals - in the autism field specifically. Correctly interpreting the complex data from an assessment takes both extensive training and experience.
Have patience when scheduling appointments - it is worthwhile to wait for the analysis of an expert who is highly regarded in the autism field. Merely taking the results of an assessment to your pediatrician or family doctor so they can sign off on them does not guarantee an accurate diagnosis because they are not trained in interpreting or verifying the results.
Why is it important that the professional gives multiple, diverse assessments?
Each assessment looks for slightly different attributes of autism and uses slightly different methods to measure them. Since autism is a complex spectrum, it's best to use multiple, diverse assessments to see where an individual fits within that spectrum...or if they are on the spectrum at all.
Which assessments are best?
There is no gold standard (even if some claim to be). The strength of using multiple assessments to evaluate traits from multiple angles outweighs what any one assessment can do alone. Someone with a respected background in diagnosing autism will be able to evaluate which assessments work well together and know how to weigh the results.
Isn't there just a genetic test?
No, autism is more complex than a single gene or set of genes. It is based on neurological development. That means it takes time and expertise to accurately diagnose.
Where are good places to start looking for experts in Fort Wayne?
Partners in Autism affirms the following as respected experts in the field of autism diagnosis for the Fort Wayne area:
The office of Dr. Tasha Williams
Neuropsychologist
Fort Wayne Neuropsychology
4306 E State Blvd, Fort Wayne, IN 46815
(260) 460-3203
The office of Dr. Marla Souder
Pediatric Psychologist
Parkview Health
11141 Parkview Plaza Dr, Ste 210, Fort Wayne, IN 46845
(260) 266-5400
What should you look for when getting a diagnosis?
Seek a professional with a solid background in autism diagnosis who will provide multiple, diverse assessments. Make sure they are respected by other medical professionals - in the autism field specifically. Correctly interpreting the complex data from an assessment takes both extensive training and experience.
Have patience when scheduling appointments - it is worthwhile to wait for the analysis of an expert who is highly regarded in the autism field. Merely taking the results of an assessment to your pediatrician or family doctor so they can sign off on them does not guarantee an accurate diagnosis because they are not trained in interpreting or verifying the results.
Why is it important that the professional gives multiple, diverse assessments?
Each assessment looks for slightly different attributes of autism and uses slightly different methods to measure them. Since autism is a complex spectrum, it's best to use multiple, diverse assessments to see where an individual fits within that spectrum...or if they are on the spectrum at all.
Which assessments are best?
There is no gold standard (even if some claim to be). The strength of using multiple assessments to evaluate traits from multiple angles outweighs what any one assessment can do alone. Someone with a respected background in diagnosing autism will be able to evaluate which assessments work well together and know how to weigh the results.
Isn't there just a genetic test?
No, autism is more complex than a single gene or set of genes. It is based on neurological development. That means it takes time and expertise to accurately diagnose.
Where are good places to start looking for experts in Fort Wayne?
Partners in Autism affirms the following as respected experts in the field of autism diagnosis for the Fort Wayne area:
The office of Dr. Tasha Williams
Neuropsychologist
Fort Wayne Neuropsychology
4306 E State Blvd, Fort Wayne, IN 46815
(260) 460-3203
The office of Dr. Marla Souder
Pediatric Psychologist
Parkview Health
11141 Parkview Plaza Dr, Ste 210, Fort Wayne, IN 46845
(260) 266-5400
Getting Services
Navigating the ins and outs of getting a diagnosis, coordinating finances, and finding quality services can be daunting.
We've been there, and we're here to help.
We've been there, and we're here to help.
Use this flow chart to understand the goals, age ranges, and funding sources of our central services. Also, check out our full family of services for more information about these services as well as our Benefit Analysis, Transitional Classroom, Supported Pathways Learning Center, and Social Groups.
You can also view this flowchart by downloading it here.