Adult Autism & ADHD Evaluations

Find Clarity, Access Support, and Reclaim Your Story

Cluster of mushrooms growing in a forest, symbolizing the nonlinear, resilient, and interconnected experiences of late-identified autistic and ADHD adults.

Hidden in Plain Sight

For generations, autism and ADHD were only recognized in stereotyped ways. Countless kids grew up overlooked, misdiagnosed, or treated in ways that made life harder instead of easier.

Today, things are different. We have better tools, more inclusive research, and a clearer understanding of how neurodivergence shows up across gender, culture, and age. More adults than ever are finally finding the language, validation, and clarity they’ve been searching for.

Whether you feel almost certain you’re autistic or are still exploring whether it’s autism, ADHD, both, or something else entirely, an adult evaluation is more than a diagnosis.

It is your chance to be seen, understood, and supported—and to move forward with lasting clarity, confidence, and self-compassion.

Start Your Evaluation Today

What Makes This Evaluation Different

Most assessments focus on deficits and checklists. This is different. At Side Quest Psychotherapy, you can expect:

🔍 Comprehensive & Affirming – Standardized tools + structured interviews + developmental history, all through a neurodiversity-affirming lens. Both strengths and challenges matter.

🤝 Relational, Not Robotic – Sessions feel conversational, not clinical. You’ll meet with a late-identified AuDHD clinician who values your comfort and perspective. Bring snacks, drinks, or fidgets—your story guides the process.

🌍 Context Matters – Masking, culture, gender, and identity are always considered. You are never reduced to a score—your results reflect your lived experience.

🌈 Specialized in Underrecognized Presentations – Gifted, perfectionistic, queer, trans, PDA, and multiply neurodivergent individuals are frequently minimized in traditional assessments.. This evaluation is designed to bring them into focus.

📑 Clear & Practical Results – If criteria are met, you’ll leave with documentation to support accommodations and protections—plus strategies you can use right away.

📝 Private & In Your Hands – Your report belongs to you. I provide it to you so that you can decide if, when, and with whom you’d like to share it.

Why Adults Seek a Diagnosis

✅ Clarity & Validation – Finally make sense of lifelong patterns and reduce self-blame.
✅ Tailored Support – Access strategies that actually fit your needs.
✅ Safer Care – Avoid misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment.
✅ Stronger Advocacy – Use documentation to communicate your needs clearly.
✅ Accommodations & Protections – Open doors at work, school, or in healthcare.

Important Considerations

⚠️ Systemic Stigma – Some institutions still view neurodivergence through a deficit lens.
⚠️ Immigration – Diagnoses can affect certain visa or residency applications.
⚠️ Disclosure – Deciding when and how to share your diagnosis can be complex.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

If you’ve been wondering whether ADHD, autism, or both may be part of your story, there’s no better time to get clarity. A formal evaluation can give you language for your experiences, open doors to support and accommodations, and help you move forward with more confidence.

I’ve designed this process to be affirming, collaborative, and grounded in your lived experience. You won’t be reduced to scores or checklists—you’ll walk away with insight, validation, and practical next steps.

BOOK YOUR EVALUATION

The Process (Step by Step)

➤ Step 1: Intake Forms & Self-Report Measures

Before we meet, you’ll complete intake forms and self-report tools that explore areas like executive functioning, sensory experiences, masking, and communication style. This gives us a strong foundation and ensures our time together is focused.

➤ Step 2: Diagnostic Interview(s)

We will meet virtually or in person for a longer, conversational session, with breaks built in so it feels manageable and supportive. Each diagnostic session is about three hours. We will cover your developmental, medical, and social history while also using structured tools that highlight your lived experience. If we are assessing for both ADHD and autism, you can choose to complete everything in one extended day with a long break in between, or spread the process across two separate sessions, depending on what best supports your comfort and energy.

➤ Step 3: Clarification & Collateral Input

With your consent, I can gather input from a parent, partner, or therapist to add valuable perspective—this is included in the evaluation fee. Sometimes new questions naturally come up during the process (for example, about OCD, anxiety, or other diagnoses). If that happens, or if anything needs a closer look, I may send additional self-report measures and we can schedule a brief follow-up session to help tease things apart (billed at $255/hour).

➤ Step 4: Feedback Session

About two weeks after your last assessment, we’ll meet for an hour to review your results. You’ll receive a clear summary of findings, personalized recommendations, and a written diagnostic summary—or a more detailed report if requested.

➤ Step 5: Post-Diagnosis Support (Optional)

When space allows, I offer 2–4 sessions of brief, focused therapy to help you process your results, integrate insights, and plan next steps with confidence. These sessions are billed at my standard therapy rate ($255/hour), separate from the evaluation, and are completely optional.

How You’re Assessed

Your story is central to the process, and I use a mix of tools to make sure the evaluation is thorough and affirming. These aren’t about “passing or failing”—they’re about creating a complete picture of how your brain works.

Core Diagnostic Interviews

  • The Monteiro Interview Guidelines for Diagnosing the Autism Spectrum (MIGDAS-2) – conversational, story-based approach highlighting autistic traits through lived experience

  • Diagnostic Interview for ADHD in Adults (DIVA-5) – structured interview exploring ADHD symptoms across childhood and adulthood

Self-Report Questionnaires

  • ASRS v1.1 – ADHD symptoms in adulthood

  • BDEFS / BRIEF-A – executive functioning in daily life

  • AAMM – ADHD masking strategies

  • RAADS-R – autistic traits across development

  • SRS-2 – social communication and interaction patterns

  • RBQ-2A – repetitive behaviors

  • CAT-Q – camouflaging and masking autistic traits

  • MQ – monotropic attention style

  • ABO / ABM – autistic burnout measures

  • EDA-QA – demand avoidance patterns

  • PERTH / TAS – alexithymia and emotional awareness

  • AASP / SPM-2 – sensory processing patterns

  • MAIA-2 – interoceptive awareness

  • Other screeners as needed – trauma, anxiety, depression, OCD

Collateral Input

With your consent, I may gather insights from parents, partners, or others who know you well. This adds depth and perspective.

Please note: Side Quest Psychotherapy does not administer the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2).

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. In Maryland, Licensed Certified Social Workers–Clinical (LCSW-Cs) are legally authorized to diagnose mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions, including Autism and ADHD in both adults and children. My evaluations follow DSM-5-TR and ICD-10 standards, and the documentation can be used for ADA accommodations, 504 plans, SSI/SSDI applications, and treatment planning.

I have advanced clinical training and supervised experience in autism and ADHD assessment, with a focus on late-identified, masked, and multiply neurodivergent adults. My approach integrates both the medical and social models of disability, allowing me to assess symptoms with clinical precision while contextualizing them within broader social and developmental frameworks.

Specialized assessment at the master’s level is relatively rare. I engage in regular consultation with psychologists and other assessment specialists and stay current with research to ensure that each evaluation is accurate, ethical, and affirming.

Psychologists often focus on standardized cognitive testing, such as IQ assessments, full neuropsychological batteries, or Continuous Performance Tasks (CPTs)—computerized attention tests used to measure focus and response patterns. These tools can be useful in certain situations, but they don’t always reflect how attention, executive functioning, or sensory processing show up in real life—especially for adults who mask well or have complex presentations.

My evaluations emphasize context, sensory processing, masking, burnout, and lived experience, using structured interviews, validated rating scales, and optional collateral input (such as a partner, parent, or friend). Rather than measuring performance on abstract tasks, I focus on how your brain and body function day to day—at work, in relationships, during downtime, and under stress.

Many adults find this approach more accurate and affirming, particularly if traditional testing has missed their lived reality in the past.

Every evaluation uses a multi-method, multi-informant approach that includes developmental and clinical interviews, validated self-report questionnaires, optional collateral input, sensory and interoceptive profiling, and behavioral observations. I look for consistent patterns over time and across settings, rather than relying on single data points or self-identification.

While many adults come in with a strong sense that they may be autistic or have ADHD, sometimes the evaluation reveals a different or more complex picture. For example, trauma, OCD, anxiety, mood disorders, post-viral conditions like long-hauler COVID, or medical issues such as chronic Lyme disease can mimic or overlap with autistic and ADHD presentations.

My goal is to provide a clinically sound and personally meaningful understanding of your neurotype—whether or not it matches your initial assumptions—so the results are both accurate and genuinely useful moving forward.

Evaluation Fees

All evaluation services can be paid in three monthly installments—with no interest, no added fees, and no credit check. I recognize that evaluations are a significant investment. That’s why I’ve built flexible payment options designed to ease the financial load and make the process feel thoughtful, accessible, and sustainable.

Please note that these services are not eligible for insurance reimbursement, and superbills are not available for evaluations.

🧭 Included in Your Evaluation

Each evaluation includes 8–12 hours of dedicated evaluator time, encompassing clinical interviews, scoring and interpretation of assessment tools, review of relevant records, and optional collateral interviews with individuals you’d like involved in the process. You’ll receive a brief diagnostic summary outlining the findings, whether or not a diagnosis is made.

Autism Evaluation

$2,000

ADHD Evaluation

$2,000

Autism + ADHD Evaluation

$2,500

Additional Diagnostic Exploration

$255/hour

Can’t afford an evaluation?
A limited number of pay-what-you-can slots are available every quarter for clients who need financial flexibility. These spots are offered on a first-come, first-serve basis.

📝Comprehensive Written Report (Optional Add-On)

For an additional $1,000, you can choose to receive a comprehensive, narrative-style report that brings everything together in one clear, affirming document.

This in-depth report weaves together your developmental history, assessment results, sensory profile, and functional strengths and challenges, along with personalized recommendations you can use for accommodations, care planning, or self-advocacy. Written with warmth and clarity, it’s designed to be something you can share—if and when you choose.

Comprehensive reports are especially valuable if you’re seeking school or workplace accommodations, disability documentation, or an affirming summary to share with other providers involved in your care.

Discover Clarity, Not Just a Label

Understanding your neurotype can shift everything. How you see yourself. How you meet your needs. How you connect with others. How you move through the world.

For many adults, an evaluation is not about chasing a label. It is about finally having language that explains years of confusion, self-doubt, or misdiagnosis. It is about reclaiming your story, your strengths, and your right to exist without apology.

You deserve an evaluation that sees the whole you, not just a checklist of symptoms.

If you are ready to explore what your brain has been telling you all along, I will walk with you through a process that is affirming, collaborative, and precise.

Get Evaluated Today →

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