Quality and accessibility of written development assessment reports provided to caregivers in a publicly funded child developmental assessment service.

Researchers looked at 85 assessment reports given to families from a public child development service. They found that doctors focused mainly on autism diagnosis, while parents needed more information about other areas like learning difficulties and mental health. Even though most children had multiple diagnoses, reports rarely gave advice about conditions other than autism. The language in reports was also too complex for many families to easily understand.

This study examined 85 developmental assessment reports from a publicly funded child assessment service to evaluate their quality and accessibility for caregivers. The research found significant gaps between what clinicians prioritized (autism diagnostic needs) versus what caregivers needed (broader support information). While reports generally followed autism assessment guidelines and provided actionable autism-related recommendations, they inadequately addressed comorbidities, with only 13% containing recommendations for conditions beyond autism despite 61% of children receiving multiple diagnoses. Additionally, report language complexity exceeded recommended readability levels for families.

The findings highlight the need for more comprehensive, family-centered reporting practices in developmental assessment services.

Assessment services should expand focus beyond autism diagnosis to address comorbidities comprehensively. Reports need simplified language and should better align with caregiver-identified needs. Training may be needed for clinicians to write more accessible, holistic reports that address the full range of child and family needs identified during assessment.

Single service setting limits generalizability. Study design unclear from abstract. No information provided about inter-rater reliability for report evaluation. Sample characteristics not fully described. Long-term outcomes of report quality on family satisfaction or child progress not assessed.

Despite long wait times, public paediatric developmental assessment services remain crucial for assessment of children. Assessment is a critical opportunity to guide the placement of supports to improve outcomes. There is little research examining how clinical assessment services conduct their assessments, present results and write reports to families. This study examined 85 reports provided to caregivers at a developmental assessment service.

Reports were evaluated for whether they (1) addressed caregiver perceived needs, (2) used available data to provide appropriate information about child needs, (3) provided recommendations that were actionable and specific to needs, (4) had appropriate readability levels and (5) followed existing autism assessment guidelines. Findings showed clinicians were more focused on autism diagnostic needs while caregivers were more focused on non-diagnostic needs. Recommendations related to autism diagnoses were actionable, but they rarely addressed comorbidities such as cognitive impairments or mental health. For instance, only 13% of reports contained recommendations for conditions other than autism spectrum disorder, despite 61% of the population receiving two or more diagnoses.

Reports largely followed autism assessment guidelines, but the language used was more complex for families than recommended. Recommendations for future practice are provided so that consideration may be given to how to improve the quality and effectiveness of reports for families attending services.