UC San Diego Autism Center of Excellence

The San Diego autism community is so fortunate to have this world-class Center here in our coastal backyard! The research they do is game-changing and clinically relevant, and the team members are caring and dedicated. This is the place to go for compassionate, cutting-edge expertise in autism - people around the country (and the globe) are modeling their programs after the UC San Diego Center of Excellence.

They diagnosed my son with autism twice at age 2 and age 3. He’s 5 now and got reassessed. He doesn’t have autism. Not even a little bit. Just take what they say with a grain of salt. It’s not the end all be all.

Our experience with UCSD Autism Center of Excellence was exceptional! Our son on the spectrum has benefited from their services for years. We never forget how helpful, informative, kind, keen and professional all of the staff and volunteers were in order to evaluate my son and get him in couple of researches they were offering. The center is so vital to move the science forward in Autism.

We really appreciate UCSD Autism Center of Excellence for their patience, sensitivity and compassion for our son. They have been there for us every step of the way and for our community. Dr Karen and the staff are Amazing.

During what was an extremely stressful time for me as a parent, The Autism Center of Excellence truly was excellent. My son + I were treated with incredible kindness + compassion and given an abundance of guidance + information. I will be forever grateful.

As someone with a bachelors in public health, that works with data at a state public health agency, and is a lover of research and evidence- based practices, I am very concerned about the quality of data coming out of this center. My point can easily get lost so I’m just going to state the facts that don’t sit well with me. 1. The appointment is 4 hours, but my child spent less than 30 minutes in front of the doctor. The sections with the Dr were not 45 min each, as it was described. 2. The doctor gave us a diagnosis though admitted that what he sees is under a microscope. 3. The doctor told me my son is very mild compared to most of the boys that come in, then rated him a level 3. 4. The doctor said that he always rates higher so the kids are eligible for more services- this is especially alarming because this means the data collection is tainted. If you are conducting research, you should not be rating children higher than what they present as. I’ll never trust a single published article from this university because of this. Maybe if you’re working in a pediatrician environment, then fine, rate them higher but this was very concerning for someone collecting research to say. 5. The brief time that we were in front of the doctor, he rushed through every last test. Didn’t even give my son the full 45 of unstructured play. 6. They only look through a very narrow autism lens. We have extensive family history of adhd and I was looking for someone who would consider both options and see which is most likely, they admitted they don’t do that, they only consider autism. (OPINION: because of the “microscope” it seemed like anything that *could* be autism was considered to definitely be autism- like my two year old crying, at his nap time, because the dr blew bubbles for 5 seconds then put them away. That was considered as having a hard time transitioning and used as solid evidence in his diagnosis. My issue is that if you look through an adhd lens that could be hyperfocus or if you look at it through a parent lens it could just be a tired and hungry two year old that wanted to play with bubbles. There was no room for 2 outta those 3 theories in this environment. You should see a repeated pattern of behavior before you feel comfortable giving out any diagnosis, especially a level 3) 7. The evidence to support his diagnosis included things that are simply untrue (ie, hard time transitioning, lack of pretend play), not just by my own opinion/observations but also by my son’s existing providers who have spent far more time with him than the quick stint we did with dr. Arias. Every session since my son’s eval here, his speech therapist is looking for red flags and everyday she does not see anything that alerts her to anything more than MAYBE adhd. Which is the same thing the regional center said and the same thing my sons previous OT said and the same thing his pediatrician said) I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone who is looking for a first time eval. If you already have a diagnosis and just want to contribute to research then by all means, contribute. I was told in the future to look for a provider that does the Developmental Assessment which is very LONG and thorough. Friends of mine had evals that included a dr, ST, PT,& OT and took place over a number of days. I question the validity of the diagnosis’s that are given here and the underlying interest of the person conducting the evaluations. If, for no other reason that you can’t tell someone that their kid is more mild than most then rate them a level 3. It’s nonsensical. And speaking from my own opinion, even if my son will get a credible diagnosis one day, there is no world in which he would ever be a level 3. I think the little black boy was a good stat to add to the roster. But those are just my opinions, and I have more I could add but I feel the facts stand strongly enough on their own. I wouldn’t be surprised if this place is on a Netflix documentary one day.