CADE

Developed through years of research by pediatric psychologists Dr. Marcy Willard and Dr. Anna Kroncke, CADE is a diagnostic support tool that thoroughly and effectively assesses a child’s strengths and challenges and then allows families to monitor progress over time.

Taking a Holistic Approach to Diagnosis

CADE’s framework is built upon 11 Areas of Evaluation: Understanding, Learning, Communicating, Socializing, Daily Living, Moving and Sensing, Focusing, Remembering, Organizing, Feeling, Behaving.

By assessing a child through these 11 Areas of Evaluation, we can attain a more holistic understanding of your child’s strengths and challenges. The result: a more accurate diagnosis and effective treatment plan for your child.

What Families Get with CADE

CADE is a diagnostic assessment tool that helps families get the help they need for their child.

A Portrait of Skills and Needs

Find out what is going on with your child and why; see a graphical picture of your child’s abilities and needs across all the essential areas of development

Therapy Navigation

Get immediate guidance in the sea of services available; know exactly what will help your child

Diagnostic Clarity

Get a signed report from a licensed clinical psychologist that will support you in getting access to therapies and school services

Customized Roadmap

See a clear path forward for how to help your child thrive at school, at home, and in the community

Education and Understanding

Look at your child’s unique constellation of skills in a clear and accessible way; learn how to share your child’s needs with clinicians and schools

Progress Monitoring

Our formula: Expedited, detailed and nuanced diagnostic assessment + science backed, prescriptive therapies and interventions = Measurable progress and improvements in happiness and functioning

Tested + Proven

CADE was rigorously tested across multiple clinician sites with several psychologists (N=191). We used logistic regression to determine the accuracy in predicting a diagnosis of autism.

%

reliability, established using Cronbach's alpha.

%

validity, as compared with ADOS during validation study.

%

accuracy, as compared to expert diagnostic decisions regarding ASD, or not ASD.

individual assessments in CADE database, improving the accuracy and predictive power of CADE’s machine learning.

Solutions for Clinicians

CADE, our diagnostic assessment tool, benefits both parents and clinicians.

By leveraging 11 Areas of Evaluation to assess a child, CADE screens for issues related to autism and other related concerns. Symptoms are analyzed in real-time, making it easier to understand a child’s profile, and quicker to produce reports.

Diagnostic Clarity

Designed by autism experts and rigorously tested, CADE greatly aids clinicians in the process of diagnostic decisions.

Family Education

With CADE, we can provide clarity around a child’s strengths and weaknesses. CADE describes symptoms in family-friendly language, facilitating increased understanding between families and clinicians when discussing priorities for treatment.

Real-time Analysis

Rather than using a static measure, CADE allows clinicians to analyze data as it comes in. They can make adjustments to ratings, and see resultant autism probability and severity scores, allowing for a new kind of online assessment that is both more effective and efficient.

Quick Collaboration & Communication

CADE is quick and accessible, allowing for more efficient collaboration between family and the various professionals involved in a child’s treatment.

Visual Profiles

CADE paints a portrait of a child’s skills across 11 areas of functioning — identifying both strengths and challenges, so that next steps can be determined.

Peer-to-peer Consultation

Clear Child provides regular supports for clinicians on interesting and challenging differentials, supporting them as they consider unique profiles, including gifted children, transgender, teenager, and girl profiles.

FAQs

Clinicians

  • image/svg+xmlimage/svg+xml
    I have a range of complex cases involving autism and other differential disorders. Can CADE help?

    Yes, CADE has been shown to differentiate autism from other conditions, even in complex cases, including GT, girl profiles, teens, and emotional or behavioral issues.

  • image/svg+xmlimage/svg+xml
    It's challenging to explain the child's diagnostic profile to families. What approach should I take?

    CADE is a great way to display data in a meaningful and accessible way for families. Often, even when the clinician and family see the severity levels differently, similar patterns are shown across raters. Taking a look at these graphical profiles together aids in communication and alignment among clinicians and families on priorities for treatment.

  • image/svg+xmlimage/svg+xml
    When is CADE used in the evaluation process? Is this a screener or diagnostic?

    Both! CADE can be used early in the evaluation process to prepare for the initial consultation or first day of testing. That process allows for identification of the issues to address in interviews and testing. Then, after clinicians complete all the assessment measures, they can fill out CADE to get an autism probability score and severity level. In this way, CADE offers support in making diagnostic decisions.

“There is a crisis in Pediatrics due to waitlists and CADE is at the cutting edge of what we need to help these families. It’s a great instrument for Pediatricians to help them feel comfortable giving feedback around more than just diagnostic criteria. It shows you where the child’s strengths and challenges are and it’s very individualized. 
”

– Karen, Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrician

Textbook

Our Textbook

Dr. Kroncke and Dr. Willard’s intention was to produce a practical textbook to provide a reliable and accessible method to diagnose Autism Spectrum Disorder in clinics, schools and doctor’s offices.

The textbook was created to further their commitment to helping unique children and their families find a clear path forward to personal success and to support their belief that no family should suffer and no child’s potential should be lost due to missing or wrong information when there are so many resources that can genuinely impact outcomes.

Over 70,000 copies have been sold to date.

Pin It on Pinterest