Autism Services

The Role of Easterseals

Easterseals Rehabilitation Center strives to create better identification of autism through diagnostic evaluations. These evaluations may involve a multidisciplinary team that includes the social worker, speech-language pathologist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, and other developmental specialists as needed.

This multidisciplinary team conducts on-site assessments in our Wheeling center. These assessments assist in determining a diagnosis along with recommendations of appropriate therapeutic treatment, as indicated by your child's individual needs.

As with all of our services, a doctor's referral is required to get the process started. 

What to Expect

Set an Appointment

Once a referral is received, our scheduler will call you to make an appointment for the evaluation. The multidisciplinary evaluation can be several hours long process that includes meeting with various professionals.

Keep Your Appointment

It is important to keep this appointment. Because of the time involved, if you cancel, your child may not be able to get another appointment with our team. 

At the appointment, our team may do any or all of the following, based on your child's needs:

• Obtain medical history
• Conduct a parent/caregiver interview and gather information through a case history and questionnaire.
• Conduct a speech-language assessment
• Conduct an occupational therapy assessment, including sensory evaluation
• Conduct a physical therapy assessment for development and body awareness
• Conduct the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 (ADOS) assessment

Next Steps

Once the assessment has been completed, you will receive a comprehensive written report from Easterseals detailing recommendations for next steps, which may include a followup with the professional who referred your child for testing, as well as therapies available at our centers and/or with our community partners. 

Easterseals therapies that your child may receive at one our centers:

• Occupational Therapy
• Speech Therapy
• Physical Therapy