Most autism evaluations are useless. Get one for your kid anyway.

Parents think an evaluation is a moment of truth: you pay an expert, the expert gives you answers. That’s not what happens. Most evaluations are designed to tell you as little as possible. Here’s how it works: 1. When a school tests your kid, that’s not really testing. Even the most high-functioning autistic kid is very, very expensive for a school district, because that kid has the right to so many extra services. Schools don’t like to spend money on one kid. So schools do the bare minimum: test for a narrow range of issues and default to “your kid is fine” unless the kid is disrupting the classroom. 2. Schools don’t have to help your kid make progress. Schools have to make a reasonable effort to help your kid make progress. So schools tell you “we love your kid” and “your kid is doing great” and anything else they can say so you don’t sue. There are about ten schools in the US that make a reasonable effort. That’s why when parents sue a school for not meeting the standard, the…