A case study on the educational assessment and diagnosis process of children with autism spectrum disorder in a counseling and research center

The aim of this study is to enlighten the Educational Evaluation and diagnosis process of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) at Kahramanmaraş/Dulkadiroglu Counseling and Research Center (CRC) in line with the opinions of the participants who experienced it. In this research, which was carried on as a qualitative research, semi-structured meetings were set which consisted two administrators working in CRC, seven teachers and seven parents whose children have ASD. Data, which were obtained by the participants ' opinions, are examined with content analysis and six themes were created: Medical diagnosis, Environment, staff adequacy, measurement tools, individuals with OSB and parents. It is stated that the difficulties experienced in the evaluation process of children with ASD in CRC are due to the evaluation related to medical diagnosis, the lack of diagnostic authority of CRCs, the lack of communication with individuals who have ASD before the evaluation, the evaluation environment is uniform, and the instant evaluation. In addition to these difficulties, it is stated that the inexperience of the personnel about the ASD and the lack of knowledge about the use of measuring tools/equipment also affect the evaluation process. Recommendations of participants for improving the process; the absence of evaluation due to medical diagnosis, communication with individuals with ASD before evaluation, diversification and extension of evaluation environments, enrichment of observations with various environments. Among the recommendations there were; increasing staff competence through in-service training, regulating undergraduate programs, developing a measurement tool/battery for individuals with ASD reducing waiting time for families and facilitating appointment.