The Vineland-3 in Your Child’s Assessment: Measuring What Your Child Actually Does
Every other tool in an assessment asks, in one way or another, what your child can do. The Vineland asks a sneakily different question, and it turns out to be one of the most important in the whole process: what does your child actually do, day to day, without help? Plenty of parents know the […]
The MIGDAS-2 in Your Child’s Autism Assessment: The Session That Doesn’t Feel Like a Test
If you’ve spotted “MIGDAS” in your child’s assessment plan and quietly wondered whether someone made a typo, you’re in good company. Parents search for “Midas autism test” every day, and the mythical king who turned things to gold has nothing to do with it. The real name is a mouthful, the experience is anything but, […]
The WISC-V in Your Child’s Assessment: What the “IQ Test” Really Looks For
Somewhere in your child’s assessment plan, you may spot the words “cognitive assessment” and feel a small jolt. An IQ test? For my eight-year-old? Images arrive uninvited: stern examiners, stopwatches, a number that follows your child around forever. Take a breath, because the reality is gentler and far more interesting. If you sat quietly in […]
Your Adult Autism Assessment: What Actually Happens, Step by Step
Most adults don’t arrive at an autism assessment casually. There’s usually a long lead-up: years of quiet wondering, maybe a child’s diagnosis that turned a mirror your way, a late-night questionnaire, an article that read like your biography. And then, finally, a referral and a booking, followed immediately by a new set of questions. What […]
The WAIS-5 in Cognitive Assessments: What an IQ Test Actually Tells You
Few phrases make adults more nervous than “we’d like to do some cognitive testing.” The word IQ arrives carrying a lifetime of baggage, school memories, and a vague fear of being reduced to a number. So let’s say the most important thing first: a cognitive assessment isn’t a judgement of your worth, and the number […]
Your Child’s Autism Assessment: What Actually Happens, Step by Step
The referral is sorted, the appointment is booked, and now there’s a strange gap where your imagination gets to work. Will it be one meeting or several? Will someone watch your child play? Will you get an answer on the day? Parents tell us the not-knowing is often the hardest part, so let’s fill in […]
The CAT-Q in Autism Assessments: The Questionnaire About the Mask
Most autism questionnaires ask what you do. The CAT-Q asks something quieter and, for many adults, far more familiar: what do you do to hide it? If you’ve ever rehearsed conversations in the shower, studied how other people stand at parties, forced yourself through small talk while feeling like an actor in a play about […]
The ASRS in Autism Assessments: The Questionnaire That Asks Your Child’s Teacher Too
A quick note before anything else: if you’ve searched “ASRS” and found pages about adult ADHD, you’re not going mad. There are two well-known tools with that acronym. This article is about the Autism Spectrum Rating Scales, used in children’s autism assessments. The other one is an ADHD screener for adults, and an entirely different […]
The ADI-R in Autism Assessments: The Long Interview, and Why It’s Worth It
Somewhere in the paperwork for an autism assessment, you may spot an appointment that looks different from the rest. Ninety minutes, sometimes longer, just to talk. No questionnaires to return, no activities, no child required in the room. Just you, a clinician, and a very long conversation about the early years. That’s the ADI-R, and […]
The RAADS-R in Adult Autism Assessments: 80 Questions, Explained
Search “am I autistic” late at night, and sooner or later you’ll run into the RAADS-R. It circulates widely online, gets discussed at length in forums and social media, and often becomes the first formal-looking thing an adult encounters on the path to an assessment. Then a clinician sends it to you officially, and suddenly […]