Northern Districts Hospital: ASD Assessment Case Study of Sam Brown

This case study report details the ASD assessment of Sam Brown, a child referred for evaluation due to potential developmental delays and a family history of Asperger's Disorder. The assessment utilized three key tools: the Mullen Scales of Early Learning, the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedul...Read More

Running head: ASD ASSESSMENT 1
ASD ASSESSMENT
Student Name
Institution

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Cover letter
Child Development Clinic
Healthy Children
5th Street, VICC 3338
To Doctor Eliza Spence
Development Pediatrician
Northern Districts Community Hospital
Main Road, Charlestown, VIC 3999
RE: ASD ASSESSMENT
This is regarding your referral of Sam Brown to my assessment clinic. I have seen Sam Brown
and carried out assessments related to ASD using three tools; Mullen Scales of Early Learning,
Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, and Autism Diagnostic Interview. These have helped
in determining, whether or not, the delay in language and communication skills, and repetitive
behavior is related to autism.
Sam Brown was responsive in the assessment. Also, his parents were quite helpful in providing
information related to his development. In summary, the results showed by the assessment tools
showed no significant abnormalities related to his growth. However, it was noted that Sam

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Brown had not well-mastered movements and interaction with new people which is not normal
for children at his age. Nevertheless, the child is experiencing a healthy growth, but I find
reasonable reasons to associate his delay in communication and repetitive behavior to autism. I
have attached a report on the assessment done on the child. In case of any question, kindly
contact me.
Yours faithfully
Joanna Smith
Case study Report
This report based on an ASD assessment done by Sam Brown. He was born on 25th
January 2011. This report provides information gotten from assessments on Mullen Scales of
Early Learning, Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, and Autism Diagnostic Interview.
ASD refers to a group of disorders like autism, Asperger's syndrome and pervasive
developmental disorder. However, autism is more common among them. These disorders are
considered developmental because they appear during early years of children's development.
Difficulties experienced by children with this disorder are grouped into three categories; verbal
and non-verbal communication, social awareness and interaction, and activities and interest. This
report describes Sam Brown's results in all the categories based on Mullen Scales of Early
Learning, Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, and Autism Diagnostic Interview.

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Overview of Sam Brown's current situation
Sam Brown is cheerful and pays good attention to people communicating with him. This
is considered to be some of his strengths. However, it was noted both by his parents and the
specialist that he exhibited some delay in his language and communication. Similarly, he showed
some repetitiveness in his behavior. His parents addressed concerns for his health being that
older brother; Joshua is eight years and was diagnosed with Asperger's Disorder. From a medical
perspective, this puts Sam Brown at risk of developing an ASD. Delay in communication and
repetitiveness in behavior are among early signs of ASD in children (Barbaro, 2010). Other
includes; failures to respond to social behaviours like facial expressions and smiles and lack of
communication through waving or pointing.
Mullen Scales of Early Learning Assessment
This assessment measured the cognitive function of Sam Brown. It was used to assess his
abilities in visuals, linguistic and motor domains. Before the test, it was established that he had
neither uncorrected vision problem nor uncorrected hearing problem. Also, he had no physical
characteristics that may have affected the results of this test. Lastly, he was not under any
medication. Therefore, the results provided are free from any physical or physiological
interference. The scores were issued in 5 categories: gross motor, visual reception, fine motor,
receptive and expressive language. This section provides observation from the assessment and
scores awarded to the patient.
Regarding raw score, Sam Brown had: 23 points in Gross motor, 25 points in visual
reception, 23 points in fine motor, and 21 points in receptive language and 18 points in

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expressive language. On the T-Scale Profile, he attained: 23 points in gross motor, 34 in visual
reception, 27 in fine motor, 31 in receptive language and 30 in expressive language.
The results show that Sam Brown has shown a significant delay in the gross and fine motor. His
visual reception, receptive language, and expressive language are impressing based on his age
(Pellicano, 2010). The delay in gross motor and fine motor imply that he may suffer from ASD.
Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule
This is a semi-structured assessment of communication, social interaction, and plays for
children suspected to be having ASD. This protocol contained social interaction tasks with Sam
Brown. The child displayed the following:
Sam Brown can make direct eye contact with the person communicating with him.
However, he is not able to respond to calls to point at an item. He is not able to communicate
with his parents socially except for when he is asking for something. He is not able to wave ‘bye
bye' to a person leaving a room. Lastly, he does not know how to pretend to be playing.
The patient is 24 months old. According to the growth and development chart, he should
be able to engage in social interactions with others (Barbaro, 2009). He should also be capable of
playing and knowing to wave goodbye when someone is leaving the room. Lacks of the above
factors indicate abnormalities in the growth and development of Sam Brown. Therefore, there
are strong reasons to conclude that the child may be suffering from ASDs.
Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised
This assessment was carried on 24th of August, 2013. It was done to measure the client
‘response to nonverbal behaviours in social interaction, shared enjoyment, socio-emotional

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reciprocity, peer relationships, abnormalities in communication, patterns of behavior and
abnormality in behavior. Module 1 of the assessment was used because the subject used little
phrase speech. Sam Brown's parents participated in this assessment. After the interview was
completed, I assigned the following scores based on my evaluation of the caregivers' response.
He scored 7 points in social interaction, 6 point in non-verbal communication, 3 points in
repetitive behavior and 3 points in abnormality in behavior.
The patient could make a good and clear eye contact. He can make only single phrases.
When faced with a smile, he smiles back. He is shy, mostly with strangers, but with time, he
warms up and become friendly. Also, he prefers to share his food with others but not toys.
Regarding abnormalities in communication, Sam Brown nod and shakes his head inconsistently
and does not always use gesture to show interest. He loves to engage in songs plays and usually
invite other to play with him. However, the parents noted that he prefers to have his things in
particular places. If he does not find them there, he gets upset. In repetitive behavior, Sam Brown
occasionally lines up his toys and like feeling the texture of the house carpets.
The results do not suggest any abnormality in behavior at this age (Zwaigenbaum et al.,
2015). However, his inability to construct phrases is worrying because children should be able to
make repetitive phrases at this point of growth (Jeffrey, 2013).
In conclusion, this report has provided results gotten from the assessment of Sam Brown
who has been experiencing difficulties in communication skills, both verbal and non-verbal. He
also had repetitive behaviours that gave a strong suggestion that he may be having ASD (Young,
2013). Being that his older brother suffers from disorders related to ASD, Sam Brown is at high
risk of developing the disease (Lindley, 2013). Therefore, this report concludes that Sam Brown

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is suffering from ASD and needs treatment as soon as possible to restore his health and enable
normal growth and development.

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References
Barbaro, J. & Dissanayake, C. (2010). Prospective identification of Autism Spectrum
Disorders in infancy and toddlerhood using developmental surveillance: The Social Attention
and Communication Study. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Paediatrics, 31,
376-385.
Barbaro, J. & Dissanayake, C. (2013). Early markers of autism spectrum disorders in infants and
toddlers prospectively identified in the Social Attention and Communication Study.
Autism, 17, 64-86.
Barbaro, J. & Dissanayake, C. (2009). Autism Spectrum Disorders in infancy and toddlerhood: A
review of the evidence on early signs, early identification, and early diagnosis. Journal of
Developmental and Behavioral Paediatrics, 30, 447-459.
Jeffrey, T.-S. (2013). Early chilhood Development: A multicultural perspective. New York: PIE.
Lindley, J. (2013, July 2). The Texas Early Childhood program Standard Comparison Tool.
Retrieved September 18, 2016, from http://www.thssco.uth.tmc.edu
Pellicano, E. (2010). Individual differences in executive function and central coherence predict
developmental changes in Theory of Mind in autism. Developmental Psychology, 46,
530-544
Young, R. (2013). The Diagnostic Process. In B. O’Reilly & K. Wicks (Eds.). The Australian
Autism Handbook (pp. 18-34). Edgecliff, NSW: Jane Curry Publishing.
Zwaigenbaum, L., Bauman, M.L., Stone, W.L., Yirmiya, N., Estes, A., et al (2015). Early
identification of Autism Spectrum Disorder: Recommendations for practice and research.
Pediatrics, 136, S10-S40.

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