Comprehensive Autism Evaluations in Portland, OR

In mental health, our understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorders has been evolving. The stereotypical presentation of savant white males are outdated! We are learning more and more about the autistic presentation in diverse populations, including women, LGBTQIA+ communities, and BIPOC individuals. 

Autistic individuals often present with core symptoms, which can vary drastically in how they present. There are two main categories:

• Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across contexts
• Restricted repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities

Many people who have concerns about autism experience significant difficulty initiating interactions with others, feel socially awkward, struggle to understand nonverbal communication and maintain conversations with others, prefer to be alone, and have few close relationships. Problems with transitions, sensory differences, repetitive behaviors or speech, and restricted interests are also common challenges. Plus, Autistic individuals often have co-occurring mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, or ADHD, which complicate life even further.

If you are struggling with some of these problems, you already know day-to-day life can be impossible to navigate. You may feel that minor things take so much work, and you must put extra effort into appearing “normal.” The intense emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion keeps you stuck and unable to do things that are important to you.

 Unfortunately, there is a limited number of professionals who specialize in understanding and evaluating the diverse presentation of autism. At Forest Psychological Clinic, Dr. Thatcher has worked with individuals in the autistic community for over 15 years and has completed approximately 1,500 comprehensive evaluations. He is committed to providing evaluations where patients feel validated and respected, enabling them to find the correct diagnosis with confidence.

At Forest Psychological Clinic, our autism evaluations assess multiple areas of psychological functioning to get a complete picture of your or your child’s functioning. Think of the evaluation process as a puzzle. We gather various pieces of information and use each piece to form a complete picture of what’s going on to help you better understand how you or your child’s strengths, weaknesses, personality characteristics, environmental factors, and relationships are impacting day-to-day life.  

Our evaluations are comprehensive and assess for other mental health conditions, such as anxiety, depression, trauma, learning disorders, or ADHD, which may be contributing to your challenges as well. Therefore, our evaluations do not just assess for autism. Our goal is to prevent misdiagnosis so we can provide the appropriate recommendations for your individual needs. Many times, people suffer from more than one mental health condition, so the evaluation will also help you understand how different challenges may interact with each other. While everyone will not leave our office with a diagnosis of autism, we want you to go with a better understanding of who you are.

Let’s think of the evaluation as a puzzle. We need to gather multiple pieces of information to have a complete picture of you or your child at the end of the process. There are various steps in the process, some happening “behind the scenes.” 

• 4-6 hour office-based testing appointment. Most appointments include multiple assessment measures such as cognitive, learning, executive functioning, and social-emotional. We conduct clinical interviews during this appointment
• Parents, teachers, and/or trusted loved ones complete measures to provide additional information
• Follow-up interviews and measures as needed
• Record review and consultation with other professionals (e.g., therapists)
• Scoring and interpretation of results and preparation of the report
• Feedback session, which is usually done the same day, to review the results, diagnoses, and recommendations
• Follow up with family and providers as needed

At the end of the evaluation, we aim to put the pieces together so you better understand yourself or your child. The pieces come together, and things start to make sense. You aren’t grasping for straws anymore because you know how certain behaviors link together and why they happen. 

You not only know why but also now have a map to help navigate your journey moving forward. The recommendation section of the report will provide strategies to use at home, identify ways to obtain accommodations at work or school, resources to learn more about autism or other diagnoses, and tools that may be useful in your daily life.