On Monday, 15 January, 2018, LACA organized a workshop on the theme ‘Between Theory and Practice’. All 12 LACA labs were represented, and from all 8 LACA countries (The Netherlands, Germany, France,
UK, Belgium, Greece, Italy, Israel) an invited practitioner working with children with ASD provided answers to the following 10 questions:

1) Who is involved in ASD diagnosis in your country? Psychiatrists? Pediatricians? Speech-language therapists? Psychologists?

2) In what structures does ASD diagnosis take place? Hospital? Private practice?

3) What tools are used in ASD diagnosis? ADOS, ADI, CARS, other? Which domains are evaluated? And what cut-offs are used?

4) Is ASD diagnosis uniform in your country, or does diagnostic practice vary? If there are national guidelines, what are these?

5) Where do children with ASD receive services in your center/country? In school? At a hospital or other specialized center?

6) How do children with ASD attend school in your country? Mainstreaming in ordinary classes (with a shadow teacher)? Special education classes in regular schools or in broad specialized centers? Specialized centers (clinical or other) catering only to children with ASD? If national figures are available, which percentage of children attend school in which structures?

7) Which professional figures are involved in remediation/intervention in general and of language problems? Is there a link between them and the school?

8) What kinds of intervention are practiced in your center? What are the major intervention techniques used in your country?

9) What about longitudinal aspects? Do you see optimal outcome children in your practice? Children whose profile changes significantly with age?

10) What types of ASD are distinguished in your country with respect to language (development)?

Download the full summary here.