Autism Assessment for Adults
Neurodiversity-Affirming Autism Assessment
You may have discussed the possibility of being autistic with others, including professionals, but received responses like:
“You can’t be autistic, you’re so empathetic!”
“But you make eye contact.”
“You don’t look autistic.”
“You’re successful in your career, so you’re too high functioning to be actually autistic.”
“Isn’t everyone a little autistic?”
“All your symptoms are just trauma responses. Once you heal your trauma, you’ll be fine.”
It turns out that old stereotypes about autism (picture Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory, or Rain Man) miss a significant portion of the autistic community, especially women, nonbinary, and trans people.
Some traits common among high masking autistic people include (click each to expand):
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You feel consistently drained after socializing, especially in groups, due to the effort of thinking through your every word, your facial expressions, your body language, and how much you talked or didn’t talk. You might replay conversations in your head repeatedly afterward, analyzing whether you came across as weird, rude, awkward, or well-liked.
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You struggle to initiate or maintain casual conversations, often feeling uncomfortable, out of place, or just not knowing what to say during such interactions. You might have developed a habit of coming up with conversation topics ahead of time when you're going to a social gathering, to make socializing easier and avoid those awkward silences. You feel exhausted from small talk, but alive and energized from deep-dive, one-on-one conversations about your favorite topics.
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You feel like you can never quite manage to connect the way you want to, like there is plexi-glass between you and other people. You may also have an unusual pattern of friendships or colleague relationships, like having one friend at a time, or a pattern of relationships that end suddenly and confusingly.
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You have deep, intense interests that consume a lot of your time and attention, often providing a sense of comfort and stability. You love to do deep-dive research into a topic, collecting all the information you can learn about it, and sharing your expertise with others. These may be very niche topics, or fairly socially-accepted ones, like your area of work, a certain TV series or video game, a particular musical artist, a craft, or a topic like psychology, personal development, social justice, or existentialism.
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You may experience heightened sensitivity to lights, sounds, textures, or smells, which significantly affect your life, such as leading you to avoid certain environments or activities. It feels like it’s really hard to get comfortable in your body unless the environment and your clothes are exactly right.
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You have strong preferences for your daily routines of eating, sleeping, exercising, working, or other activities, and it really throws you off when your routines are disrupted, leaving you anxious, irritable, exhausted, and ashamed for feeling so off from something so small. You may love the idea of traveling or having house guests, for example, and even greatly enjoy parts of it sometimes, but it has always been especially hard for you for reasons you can’t quite pin down.
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You identify as an introvert, requiring significant periods of solitude to recharge and recover from time “out in the world,” social interactions, or sensory overload. Even though you may love spending time with specific people, you often find “people-ing” to be exhausting.
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You may have trouble navigating social structures and hierarchies, like relationships with teachers, bosses, or other authority figures, or with systems of power and oppression, often feeling confused or frustrated by unspoken social rules.
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Not all HSPs are autistic, and not all autists are HSPs, but there is significant overlap among these traits. If you strongly identify as an HSP, it could be worth exploring autism.
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You may have “anxiety,” “depression,” or “nervous system dysregulation” that hasn't responded to all the things you’ve tried and were told should work: CBT, DBT, talk therapy, medications, behavioral strategies, EMDR, trauma therapy, or somatic therapy.
This alone doesn’t indicate autism, and many autistic people also have other co-occurring conditions, but it’s common for undiagnosed autistic people to struggle even after going through “gold-standard,” evidence-based, and alternative treatments for their diagnosed conditions. This is because they may have been misdiagnosed, or because the treatments didn't take their unidentified autism into account.
If reading the above list makes you feel understood, it may be time to look into an autism assessment.
FAQs About Autism Assessments
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The answer to this is highly individual and depends on your history, your goals, and how you plan to use the information in the assessment.
ADHD and Autism co-occur at high rates; specifically, recent studies suggest that about 30-65% of ADHDers are also autistic, and about 22-83% of Autistic people also meet criteria for ADHD.
Sometimes, people seek out an assessment mostly focused on one or the other, without realizing how much overlap and co-occurrence there is, and they would really benefit from looking at both.
Other people come to me already diagnosed with ADHD or Autism and want to be assessed for the other. And sometimes, it simply doesn't feel like a high priority for some people to explore both at the same time, and that's okay.
My opinion is that being assessed for both gives the most thorough and comprehensive picture, but I won't push it on you.
We can discuss the details of this in our consultation call.
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Multiple clinical interviews via telehealth
A clinical interview about you with a loved one (partner, parent, close friend), if possible (not required)
Several self-report questionnaires that you will fill out
Report questionnaires for a loved one (partner, parent, close friend) to fill out about you, if possible
Includes sensory profile assessment
Includes screening for ADHD (does not include full ADHD diagnosis)
Detailed diagnostic report (15+ pages) with testing results, summary of findings, and personalized recommendations
1-hour feedback session via telehealth
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Multiple clinical interviews via telehealth
A clinical interview about you with a loved one (partner, parent, close friend), if possible (not required)
Several self-report questionnaires that you will fill out
Report questionnaires for a loved one (partner, parent, close friend) to fill out about you, if possible
Includes sensory profile assessment
Includes executive functioning assessment
Includes screening for autism (does not include full autism diagnosis)
Detailed diagnostic report (15+ pages) with testing results, summary of findings, and personalized recommendations
1-hour feedback session via telehealth
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Multiple clinical interviews via telehealth
Two clinical interviews about you with a loved one (partner, parent, close friend), if possible (not required)
Several self-report questionnaires that you will fill out
Report questionnaires for a loved one (partner, parent, close friend) to fill out about you, if possible
Includes sensory profile assessment
Includes executive functioning assessment
Detailed diagnostic report (20+ pages) with testing results, summary of findings, and personalized recommendations
1-hour feedback session via telehealth
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You email me to inquire about an assessment for Autism, ADHD, or both. If you’re not sure what you need, that’s okay too!
I will answer any questions you have via email, share my availability or waitlist, and (if no waitlist) schedule a free 20 minute phone consultation call with you. If I have a waitlist, I'll reach out to you when it's your turn and we'll schedule a phone call if you're still interested.
We'll have a ~20 minute phone call. You'll share about your goals and hopes, and we'll talk about which assessment option is right for you. I'll tell you a little more about me, the process, and what to expect, and I'll answer any questions you have.
We'll each decide if I'm a good fit for the kind of assessment you need.
If we agree to move forward, we'll schedule and complete the first interview, and follow-up interviews.
I'll send you several self-report questionnaires to fill out.
If applicable, I'll include your loved one in the process, with an interview and questionnaires for them too.
Once I've gathered all the information I need, I'll work on your organizing and analyzing the data, and writing your detailed report.
I'll share the report with you, and we'll have a 1-hour feedback session to go over your results together.
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Autism Assessment: $1,800
ADHD Assessment: $1,800
Autism and ADHD Assessment: $2,500
Please inquire about payment plans if needed.
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I am out-of-network with all insurance providers. You may be able to seek reimbursement from your insurance company for some, but not all, of the autism assessment or ADHD assessment fee. I am happy to provide a superbill. See my Fees page for more information about superbills and out-of-network insurance benefits.
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As a licensed therapist with a Master’s degree, I can provide you with a formal diagnosis of autism, ADHD, or both, and a detailed diagnostic report containing statistical data from your testing results and personalized recommendations for your wellbeing and growth going forward.
My assessments CAN be used for:
Personal clarification, confidence in self-diagnosis, and education
Your care team’s understanding of you (such as your therapist)
May be accepted by some workplaces or universities for accommodations
May be accepted by some doctors or NPs in order to prescribe you ADHD medication, if indicated and desired
I cannot guarantee that a particular workplace, school, or doctor will accept my diagnosis as a Licensed Professional Counselor. If you have questions about this, we can discuss in a free consultation call to decide if I'm the right fit for your needs.
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Some settings may not accept my (or another Master's level therapist) diagnosis in order for you to receive support and services, and sometimes require certain tests that only a doctorate-level provider can perform (such as cognitive or neuropsychological testing by a psychologist or neuropsychologist).
These include:
Some universities and workplaces
Disability claims
Social security benefits
Legal cases
If you’re primarily seeking diagnosis so you can apply for SSDI benefits, to see if you have a learning disability like dyslexia, or for school accommodations, I recommend you seek an assessment by a doctorate-level psychologist and am happy to provide some referrals.
I do not provide neuropsychological testing, cognitive (IQ) testing, projective testing, or testing for learning disabilities as these tests are outside of my scope of practice. If you suspect that additional complex neurological factors, such as traumatic brain injury, fetal alcohol spectrum conditions, or other differential diagnoses could be at play, I'd recommend you work with a neuropsychologist.
I do not prescribe medications or provide other medical advice as these services are outside my scope of practice as a therapist.
Not quite needing a formal, medical diagnostic assessment?
I also offer one-off Neurodivergence Discovery Consultation sessions.
One 90-minute session via telehealth
We will discuss your specific questions about neurodivergence, either for yourself or a loved one
Does not include a diagnosis
I will provide a list of resources and recommendations
Fee: $300