The symptoms of trauma and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit similarly, which makes it critical to screen for both conditions during an assessment for either of the two. There are two key reasons for this. One is that trauma-based developmental delays, like a strict adherence to a routine, can look similar to autism spectrum disorders. Two, because trauma symptoms can overshadow ASD.
Without an accurate and comprehensive approach to your assessment, you may misidentify a trauma victim as being autistic. Similarly, you may dismiss an autistic child as only having PTSD or a similar disorder when, in fact, they have both.
What are the best tools to add to your assessment strategy? Diagnostic tools and best practice recommendations are constantly improving and being refined. That’s why you’ll want to stay up to date on these current recommendations and continually invest in your approach.
The Best Tools to Accurately Diagnose Between Trauma and ASD
Trauma and ASD often go hand-in-hand. Studies have found that ASD and anxiety or mood symptoms were found in 50 to 70% of autistic individuals, and 90% of those with clinical-level mood symptoms experienced at least one traumatic event in their lives (Lobregt-van Buuren et al., 2021).
That being said, trauma can cause developmental delays in young children, similar to ASD. While it’s easier to differentiate between comorbid trauma and ASD in older children and adults, it just isn’t so simple with young children, particularly if they’re nonverbal.
In addition to understanding the link and similarities between trauma symptoms and ASD, you will also want to enhance your assessment process with these top tools:
Use an Interview-Based Approach to Discover the ‘Why’
It can be difficult to assess a child accurately solely through observation. While the autism assessment ADOS-2 is considered the gold standard when it comes to ASD diagnostics, it does have its limitations. A few of the key limitations of ADOS-2 (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition) are providing false positives for those with psychosis or severe trauma (Maddox et al., 2017). Adding an interview-based approach like MIDGAS-2 (Monteiro Interview Guidelines for Diagnosing the Autism Spectrum, Second Edition) can help you expand on your evaluation by adding the ‘why’ behind behaviors. MIDGAS-2 can even be used with nonverbal to minimally speaking children by interviewing parents, guardians, and close family members.
Use a Trauma Screening Tool
Increasingly, more counselors or other clinicians working with autistic children and teens are screening for trauma (Kerns et al., 2019). This is due to the high comorbid rates between trauma and ASD. With this in mind, another approach you can easily add to your assessment process as a standard is a trauma screening tool. Due to the high comorbid rates of trauma and ASD, this is an excellent tool to add to your repertoire
Build a Timeline
Another effective approach towards differentiating between trauma and ASD developmental delays is to work with parents, educators, and other closely related adults to build a developmental timeline. This can help identify sudden changes in hitting developmental milestones.
Enhance Your Skillset
Companies like WPS offer diagnostic assessment tools, training, and resources for autism. The MIDGAS-2 is a powerful interviewing approach that can help you differentiate between trauma symptoms and ASD traits, even if the child is nonverbal or affected by inter-familial sexual abuse cases.
Being trauma-informed is essential as a caseworker, counsellor, or clinician. Adopting new assessment tools and skills from WPS (Western Psychological Services) can help you provide more accurate assessments and develop more effective intervention strategies for children in your charge.
