Medical Diagnosis vs. Educational Verification
Autism is not diagnosed by a single medical test or a brief observation. It requires a combination of screening and surveillance and subjective, comprehensive evaluation including clinical observations, parent interviews, developmental histories, psychological testing and speech and language assessments. There are two distinct types of assessments for a diagnosis: educational verification and medical diagnosis.
Medical Diagnosis
A medical diagnosis is based on clinical observation by a developmental pediatrician, psychologist, psychiatrist, or other Licensed Mental Health Professional (LMHP). Such a diagnosis is guided by criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV) and based on a medical model that takes a child’s medical, behavioral and communication status; family history; and developmental progress into account. Children who receive a medical diagnosis will still require educational verification to be considered for eligibility for special education programs.
Locate a service provider for medical diagnosis
Educational Verification
Educational verification is a process conducted by a school district to determine special education eligibility and to address a student’s individual needs. A “multi-disciplinary team” (MDT) including the appropriate professionals and the parent(s) of a child follows the Nebraska Department of Education's definition of autism (scroll to 003.08A and 006.04B). Evaluation is very developed for each specific disability, but includes assessment of a child’s communication and language skills, behavior and social-emotional development. By determining eligibility for special education, realistic instructional objectives and interventions can be developed; a measure of educational progress can be established; and information about the strengths and needs of the student and the environmental resources needed to support that student can be generated.
Purpose of Determining Special Education Eligibility
• Develop and design realistic instructional objectives and interventions
• Establish present levels of performance to measure progress
• Generate information about the strengths and needs of the student as well as strengths and needs of the environmental resources needed to support the student.1
1 Nebraska Department of Education: Nebraska Autism Spectrum Disorders NETWORK, “Educational Verification in Nebraska,” n.d. (1 December 2008)