How long does a CMDE take?

It is typically completed within days of your records review. At Enlight, therapy usually begins within 14 days of your first call.

Who can perform a CMDE?

A qualified clinician, such as a licensed professional clinical counselor. At Enlight, our Clinical Director performs it in-house.

Does a CMDE cost anything?

For families on Medical Assistance or Medica, the CMDE is covered, so cost isn't a barrier to getting your child evaluated.

Is a CMDE the same as an autism diagnosis?

No. A diagnosis identifies autism, while the CMDE establishes that EIDBI services are medically necessary. A child may need a diagnosis first, then the CMDE.

How often does a CMDE need to be redone?

A prior CMDE older than a year is generally refreshed. We can build on the earlier one and the records you already have rather than starting from scratch.

Minnesota funding

What is a CMDE?

The CMDE is the Minnesota evaluation that opens EIDBI funding. Here is what it is, what happens during one, and how families get theirs.

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What a CMDE is.

CMDE stands for Comprehensive Multi-Disciplinary Evaluation. It is the evaluation Minnesota uses to confirm that a child needs autism services, and that confirmation is what makes EIDBI funding available. Without a completed CMDE the state cannot authorize the therapy that follows, so it is the first real step on the path to treatment.

Why Minnesota requires it.

EIDBI is a medical benefit, and like any medical benefit it has to be shown to be medically necessary before it pays. The CMDE is how that is established. It looks at how your child communicates, plays, and manages daily life, and it draws the records you already have into one current picture that the state and your child's treatment team can build on.

What happens during a CMDE.

A CMDE is not a single test. It combines a review of your child's history, direct observation, and standardized tools chosen to fit your child's age. For children under six we use the ADOS-2, an in-person observation, as part of the picture. The result is a written evaluation that describes your child's needs and recommends the support that fits them.

Records that help.

You do not need to arrive with everything, but anything you bring lets us build on work already done rather than starting over. Records that help include:

IEP or school evaluation
Medical records and recent wellness checks
Any prior CMDE completed more than a year ago
Earlier developmental or speech evaluations

Do we need a diagnosis first?

Not always. If your child already has an autism diagnosis, we move straight to the CMDE. If a formal diagnosis is still the missing piece, we help connect you with a provider who can complete that step, and then we carry out the evaluation here.

Getting your CMDE at Enlight.

At Enlight the CMDE is performed in-house by our Clinical Director, a licensed professional clinical counselor, so you are not sent across town to a separate evaluator and back. Once it is complete, a board certified behavior analyst writes your child's treatment plan, and therapy usually begins within 14 days. You can read more about the evaluation as a service on our autism evaluation page, or start now.

A mother and her young son working on a jigsaw puzzle together at home

Common questions about the CMDE.

How long does a CMDE take?: It is typically completed within days of your records review. At Enlight, therapy usually begins within 14 days of your first call.
Who can perform a CMDE?: A qualified clinician, such as a licensed professional clinical counselor. At Enlight, our Clinical Director performs it in-house.
Does a CMDE cost anything?: For families on Medical Assistance or Medica, the CMDE is covered, so cost isn't a barrier to getting your child evaluated.
Is a CMDE the same as an autism diagnosis?: No. A diagnosis identifies autism, while the CMDE establishes that EIDBI services are medically necessary. A child may need a diagnosis first, then the CMDE.
How often does a CMDE need to be redone?: A prior CMDE older than a year is generally refreshed. We can build on the earlier one and the records you already have rather than starting from scratch.