First of its Kind

ince 2020, NMSU’s Autism Diagnostic Center has seen over 80 families, serving as the only center in southern New Mexico that provides evaluations for the medical diagnosis of autism. Amidst the challenges of opening during the COVID-19 pandemic, the center has persevered to provide essential evaluations. 

“The waitlist for autism evaluations averaged more than two years,” says Kali Hall, a social worker at the center. “This is a huge barrier, which the ADC was created to overcome.” 

The center consists of a large, interdisciplinary team experienced in autism, differential diagnosis and comorbid conditions across all age ranges. “This has never existed in southern New Mexico before,” says Victoria Almaguer, the center’s clinical director. 

Since 2021, the center has hired five Stage-1 clinical psychologists, which increased the evaluation capacity significantly. Additional professionals were hired to round out the interdisciplinary diagnostic teams, including speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists and pediatricians. Eight graduate assistants work at the center to gain first-hand clinical knowledge of autism. 

Evaluations are available in both English and Spanish. The center utilizes a hybrid model with confidential telehealth services available for some portions of the evaluation to reduce travel demands and better reach rural communities. 

In addition to evaluation services, the center organized its first Celebrating the Spectrum event in spring 2022. “This event was created with the unique needs of autism in mind, so those with autism could relax and enjoy themselves in a public space,” Hall says. Ten community partners participated in the event, which took place on Autism Awareness Day and served more than 250 people. 

The center also provides training about autism to multiple community organizations. And staff initiated autism specific evidence-based training programs for parenting a child with disruptive behaviors, as well as increasing teen social skills. 

“Our hope for the future is to continue to build capacity to provide diagnostic evaluation and treatment services to southern New Mexico,” Almaguer says. “We hope to reduce the wait time for families that need an evaluation, as well as to create a hub of local resources, provide access to professional support, train graduate students to be skilled in autism and increase acceptance of autism in the community.” 

The center is currently planning a grand opening event in fall 2022 to introduce the community to the center and staff. For more information, call 575-646-3177 or email adc@nmsu.edu.