Adult Neurodiversity Assessments

Our in-depth adult neurodiversity assessments are designed to explore your sensory, cognitive, and socio-emotional profile in detail, and to determine whether your experiences align with autism, ADHD and/or related diagnoses. In our assessment process, we take care to account for high-masking, multiply-neurodivergent, complex and other less common presentations.

Together, we will conduct an in-depth exploration of different areas of your life and history, taking care to identify both strengths and areas of challenge. We will consider the impacts of being undiagnosed and how this may have shaped your life experiences.

Our goal is to help you gain an understanding of your profile, empowering you with insights and recommendations tailored to your needs.

We offer assessment services for adolescents and adults aged 16+.

Our approach to assessment aims to be neurodiversity-affirming and non-pathologizing: we recognize and celebrate each individual's set of experiences as a normal part of the diversity of human existence.

What makes our assessments different

Because we rely so heavily on interviewing, our assessments tend involve more face-to-face time than many other assessment models. The main advantage is that we can explore the different facets of your life in greater depth and focus on your internal experiences, not just externally observable behaviours. In our experience, this approach is helpful in accurately diagnosing individuals who are very high masking, those with atypical presentations, and those with complex profiles where co-occuring conditions may mask each others. For many, this is a unique opportunity to gain a bigger-picture perspective on your life and experiences, which can enable you to see new patterns and gain helpful insights.

The main disadvantage is that this type of assessment is more time- and resource-intensive than an assessment that relies more heavily on other tools. This type of assessment is not suitable for those who have low verbal communication fluency.

The structure of our assessments is highly flexible - we can adapt to your specific needs in preferences, for examples by using fewer questionnaires, including more testing, or relying more heavily on written communication.

We don't believe in just "checking boxes" to arrive at a diagnosis. We believe an assessment should be a precious opportunity to tell your story fully, to feel heard and to put words on your unique set of experiences.

Process

Interviewing - We will talk in detail about your history and experiences in various facets of your life. Our assessment leans most heavily on these interviews, as our goal is to understand your inner world as best as we can. Interviewing typically takes place over a few sessions.
Battery of questionnaires - We will send you several questionnaires to complete at home, in order to facilitate collecting information about different facets of your experience. This will help orient, streamline and complete the collection of information, complementing interviews.
Review of notes and documents - We will take time to review any notes you may want to share with us between sessions, as well as any relevant documents (such as report cards from childhood or previous assessment reports).
Consultation with close others - People who know you closely can often be involved in the assessment process: partners, friends, relatives, long-term therapists can all be helpful informants. They may be invited to participate in an interview and/or asked to fill out some questionnaires. This can be helpful in gaining a different perspective on your personality and behaviour.
Social cognition or cognitive performance tests - In some cases, it may be helpful to complete some tests in-session to help us better understand how your brain processes information. For example, we might use tests that help us understand the strength of your attention and impulse control, or the ways in which you process non-verbal communication.
Feedback session - At the end of the process, we will meet to review the findings from your psychological assessment. During this session, we will walk you through the data collected and conclusions, highlighting key insights about your strengths, challenges, and overall profile. We’ll discuss any diagnoses, if applicable, as well as explore how these findings relate to your experiences and goals.
Documentation - We will consolidate a summary of the assessment process, findings and recommendations into a report, summary or diagnostic letter that will be sent to you after the final payment has been received. This serves as an official record of the assessment process.

Neurodiversity Assessment FAQ

How long does the assessment process take?

Our assessments are completed over the course of a few sessions lasting 60-120 minutes each. In total, you can expect us to spend between 5-10 hours in conversation together, depending on the type and complexity of the assessment.

The length of the assessment depends on a variety of factors, including how frequently we schedule assessment sessions. I will try my best to adjust to your needs and preferences. It could be a couple of weeks, or a couple of months.

Do you use tests like the ADOS-2 or ADI-R?

No. I do not use these common autism tests in my practice, because they are widely considered not to be neurodiversity-affirming, and because they may not capture the complexity of experiences of high-masking individuals.

I may however incorporate other tests that measure different aspects of cognition as appropriate.

What is included in the cost?

An assessment involves many hours of work in the background, in addition to session time. The cost covers an unlimited number of face-to-face interviewing hours necessary to complete the assessment, hours spent scoring, interpreting and organizing data, and report- or letter-writing.

I'm not sure I want a full assessment...

We can offer screening with one of our psychotherapists or with Dr. Melodie. Contact us to discuss options!

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