Adult Autism Assessment
An adult autism assessment is a comprehensive testing process designed to understand an individual’s social communication skills, behaviour patterns, and developmental history. Our assessments combine gold-standard tools—such as the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (ADOS-2) in combination with structured interviews, self-report questionnaires, computerized testing, and behavioural observations. An adult autism assessment is conducted for adults aged 18 and older, including those in post-secondary education, the workforce, or those trying to better understand themselves as adults.
The most common reasons people seek an adult autism assessment include gaining clarity about lifelong social or communication differences, accessing workplace, academic, or exam accommodations, and better understanding personal strengths and challenges. The purpose of the assessment is to identify: autism spectrum disorder, intellectual giftedness, learning disorders, ADHD, mood or emotional concerns, social communication issues, and an individual’s cognitive strengths and areas for growth.
Breakdown of a Adult Autism Assessment
Clinical Intake Appointment
The process begins with meeting a clinical psychologist to discuss background, medical, developmental, and educational history, symptoms and their severity, major life events, and family makeup to better understand your unique case.
Intelligence Testing
Adults complete a Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) which is the most advanced measure of cognitive ability that looks at the 4 domains that impact performance for adults (Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Reasoning, Working Memory and Processing Speed).
Achievement Testing
Adults both complete a Wechsler Individual Achievement Test Fourth Edition (WIAT-IV) to assess areas of Reading, Written Language, Mathematics, and Oral Language.
Specialized Autism Testing
The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (ADOS-2), is a gold-standard, behavioural observation assessment used to help identify autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in adults. It involves structured activities and social interactions designed to observe communication skills, social behaviours, and restricted or repetitive patterns of behaviour. An adult autism assessment may also include specialized questionnaires such as the (SRS™-2) Social Responsiveness Scale™, Second Edition.
Personality Testing
The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-3 (MMPI-3™) is a validated, standardized, self-report assessment to help in the diagnosis of mental health conditions. The MMPI-3 helps identify patterns related to mood, thought processes, stress response, interpersonal style, and potential areas of psychological difficulty.
Neurocognitive Screening Testing
This is where we test your verbal and visual memory, simple and complex attention, cognitive flexibility, processing speed, reaction time, working memory, reasoning, motor speed, psychomotor speed, executive functioning and compare you to age and gender norms to see if you fall in the above average, average, low average, low, or very low range for each category.
Visual and Auditory Tests of Attention
We use the Conners Continuous Performance Test Third EditionTM (Conners CPT 3TM) and Conners Continuous Auditory Test of Attention® (Conners CATA®) to measure performance in areas of inattentiveness, impulsivity, sustained attention, and vigilance to rule out conditions such as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and other neurological conditions related to attention. This is particularly crucial as some children who meet the diagnostic criteria for autism may also meet the diagnostic criteria for ADHD.
Clinical Questionnaires
We follow this up with clinical questionnaires to review symptoms of ADHD, emerging concerns related to mood, Behaviour, Adaptivity, etc., to see if there are any underlying factors contributing to your symptoms.
Debrief/Feedback Session:
Once all testing and questionnaires are completed, we discuss the results of tests, explain what they mean, talk about if a diagnosis is warranted, and then give you a chance to ask questions.
Report Writing:
The findings of the assessment are composed into a written report with detailed recommendations. We provide detailed reports that can range from 30 to 50 pages in length.
Cost:
$5000 (price subject to change depending on the number of questionnaires or additional assessments requested). Please note this is an example adult autism assessment plan, and your assessment plan can only be finalized after your first meeting with a clinical psychologist.
How Does a Psychoeducational Assessment Help My Child?
Clarity
Understanding the reasons behind your struggles can feel therapeutic and like a weight has been lifted. Understanding the problem is the first step to seeking the right solutions.
Interventions
Once you understand your relative strengths and weaknesses you can begin the process of finding supports to help improve your quality of life. This can take the form of reading, writing, and mathematics supports, tutoring, speech-language therapy, and other non-invasive supports such as Neurofeedback for ASD, learning disabilities and ADHD.
Accommodations
A diagnosis can help a person gain access to support in the classroom or in the workplace to help them succeed. This can take the form of an Identification, For adults, a psychoeducational assessment can help provide accommodations in college, university, professional school examinations, or in the workplace.
Advantage of Working with Neuropotential Clinics
Clinical Intake Appointment:
Our 2500 square-foot facility has 13 foot ceilings to ensure you feel safe and comfortable. We are locatedacross the street from Sheppard-West station and minutes off the 401.
Affordable Pricing:
Assessment plans are created with your input to ensure you only pay for what you need. Most insurance plans cover psychological services so services at the clinic may be reimbursed.
Custom Assessments:
All assessments can be customized based on your needs and the questions you would like answered.
Google Reviews:
Most regulatory colleges do not allow for testimonials as there is no way to verify if they are authentic. Google Reviews allows clients to post on a third party website to ensure each opinion is trusted and true. We are proud to say Neuropotential Clinics is one of the highest rated clinics in Canada.