A case study on the educational evaluation and diagnosis process of children with autism spectrum disorder

The aim of this study is to examine the educational evaluation and diagnosis process of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study, which was implemented in the Guidance and Research Center (GRC) in Dulkadiroglu District of Kahramanmaras in 2019, was carried out with participants consisting of two administrators, seven teachers and seven parents with children with ASD. The research adopts the phenomenological approach, which is one of the qualitative research methods. Interview techniques were used in accordance with this model. The findings obtained from the data analyzed with content analysis were explained with six themes as medical diagnosis, ambient, personnel competence, measurement tools, individuals with ASD and parents. Difficulties in the evaluation process of children with ASD in GRC are stated as evaluation based on medical diagnosis, lack of diagnostic authority of GRCs, not communicating with individuals with ASD before evaluation, uniform assessment environment, instant evaluation. In addition, it was stated that the inexperience of the staff about ASD and the insufficient knowledge of using measurement tools negatively affected the evaluation process. The suggestions of the participants to improve the process were not to make evaluations based on medical diagnosis, to communicate with individuals with ASD before the evaluation, to diversify the evaluation environments and to extend the time, and to enrich the observations with various environments. Increasing personnel competence with in-service training, planning in undergraduate programs, developing a measurement tool for individuals with ASD, shortening the waiting period for families and facilitating appointment were among the suggestions.