The National Guideline for the Assessment and Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders (the guideline) is the first unified approach to assessing and diagnosing autism in Australia.

About the guideline

A review of diagnostic practices for autism noted that there is substantial variability across Australia in how autism is diagnosed, which may contribute to inequities in accessing the required health, education and disability supports. This review provided the impetus for the development of the guideline, which was developed by the Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (Autism CRC) with funding from the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).

The guideline outlines processes for both making diagnoses and comprehensively assessing an individual’s needs for support. The guideline also describes a step-by-step process for assessing autism concerns from the time of referral until the assessment results are shared in a written report.

Implementation activities are underway to support health professionals and services to align their practice with the guideline.

Evaluation of the reach, uptake and impact of the guideline

The department engaged AHA to evaluate the reach, uptake and impact of the guideline.

The evaluation involved reviewing publicly available peer-reviewed and grey literature and analysing web analytics data for the Autism CRC website. AHA also consulted stakeholders by conducting:

• a survey and focus groups with health professionals (paediatricians, psychiatrists, psychologists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, social workers, nurses and general practitioners)
• a community survey for people on the autism spectrum, people who are undergoing or have undergone assessment, their families and carers, and other people considering autism assessment
• interviews with autism sector stakeholders.

Findings from this evaluation will help the government to strengthen supports and resources for health professionals to access and apply the guideline in their context and to create awareness of the guideline approach for people on the autism spectrum and their families and carers. Findings from this evaluation may also feed into the National Health and Medical Research Centre’s (NHMRC) review of its endorsement of the guideline.