Adult Autism Assessment at Sea Spray Psychology

Philomena and Alex offer Autism Assessments to verbally fluent individuals in late adolescence and adulthood

History Taking (where possible and appropriate)

While not crucial, it IS extremely helpful to get your developmental history from your parent or carer. Alex will ask about your developmental milestones, what you liked, whether you had any special interests, how school was for you, and so on. Information from a partner or an older child can also be illuminating - they see things you may not even realise you do! However, we know that’s not always possible as it doesn’t make the assessment less valuable.

The MIGDAS-2

We pride ourselves on being neuro-affirming here at Sea Spray Psychology, which is why we use neuro-affirming assessments wherever possible. Our Autism assessment of choice is the Monteiro Interview Guidelines for Diagnosing the Autism Spectrum, Second Edition (MIGDAS-2). It is a sensory-based, conversational assessment tool that collects information using your particular interests as a starting point. It explores your strengths and differences and uses non-pathologising language. For adults, it includes a conversational interview via telehealth where you can bring along some of your favourite objects to talk about, and/or fidgets/sensory modulation tools to use during the session. While the MIGDAS-2 is not a standardised assessment tool, it does map on to the DSM-V-TR, the primary reference guide for diagnosing Autism.

ADHD Screener

Autism and ADHD frequently co-exist. As such, the standardised ADHD screener, the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS), is given online or as an interview via telehealth.

The ABAS-3

We also administer the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System (ABAS-3). This is a standardised tool used to evaluate your behaviour across three domains: Conceptual (communication, functional academics, self-direction), Social (leisure, social skills) and Practical (community use, home/school, health and safety, self-care, motor skills, and work for older respondents), elements of life that Autistic people often struggle with. While not neurofriendly, we can then look at your patterns of strengths and support needs, and devise strategies to support them. The ABAS-3 provides important information to support NDIS applications.

The Report & Feedback session

Once we have all our information, we form an interpretation. We assemble this information and our interpretation into a comprehensive report, including evidence-based and achievable recommendations for home and work. A feedback session with be arranged with the you and anyone else you want present. Occasionally you might remember something additional or deem recommendations as non-achievable. In those cases, the report will be amended. The report can then be provided to relevant stakeholder/s depending on your needs and preferences. A report specifically designed for an NDIS application can also be written, noting the language will be more deficits based.