Any Psychologist, Doctor, Nurse Practitioner or Psychiatrist's diagnosis of ASD is accepted for children’s developmental disability services in the State of Idaho. Although best practice involves ASD-specific testing, especially the ADOS or ADOS-2. When we have individuals seeking Children’s DD Services and/or SSI, we do encourage a full psychological evaluation, but that can take a while for a family to schedule due to lack of providers.

 

In the meantime, IF one of the medical/psychological providers listed above is comfortable, we recommend they provide a diagnosis of ASD for the child. Usually that is easiest for the family from the Primary Care Provider.  Many Primary Care Providers feel comfortable providing an ASD diagnosis if there are other screeners or assessments such as the M-CHAT, GARS, ADIR, ADOS and/or school testing available to review. 

 

Also for children under 5, no diagnosis is required to apply for children’s DD services in the State of Idaho.  A family could apply and be qualified only with the functional delays identified by the Vineland (the assessment used by Liberty Medical to evaluate the child's disability levels), then get on a waitlist for testing prior to age 5 that confirms their diagnosis.

 

If a child with suspected ASD also has Cerebral Palsy, Seizure Disorder, an Intellectual Disability (IQ of 75 or lower) or Down Syndrome, a child can apply for children’s DD services with documentation of those diagnoses.

​

If a child is under three they can access testing through the Infant Toddler Program. Heather Freeman is a good contact for more info on that. Heather.freeman@dhw.idaho.gov.  Paul Norstog does the ADOS for the Infant Toddler Program, but he can’t “officially” diagnose.

 

If someone with a Master’s degree or lower provides the testing, they cannot officially diagnose with ASD for an SSA/Children’s DD Program or Adult DD Program eligibility, but the family can take the testing to their Primary Care Provider who can diagnose the child with ASD.  Many PCPs feel comfortable doing so, especially with ASD-specific testing.

​

It is required for children above 5 if ASD is their only diagnosis, but an ADOS or ASD-specific assessment is not required.  A Developmental Disability Diagnosis is only required for Children’s DD Supports (the budget to access Traditional or Family Directed Supports), not intervention. Any child with Medicaid and a need can access the Children’s Habilitative Intervention Services. No Development Disability Diagnosis is required.

​

​