A Comprehensive, Neuroaffirming Autism & ADHD Evaluation for Adults — With a Full Sensory and Interoceptive Workup
Comprehensive Diagnostic Assessment · College Park, MD & Telehealth (MD, VA, FL)
The Comprehensive Diagnostic Assessment is Side Quest Psychotherapy’s most thorough evaluation pathway. You’re here because you want a full, in-depth understanding of how your brain works—not just confirmation of diagnosis, but a multi-domain clinical picture.
This neuroaffirming evaluation integrates structured clinical interviews, validated psychometric measures, developmental history, and review of prior records to produce a comprehensive diagnostic formulation with DSM-5-TR and ICD-10 codes—suitable for diagnostic clarity, treatment planning, medication access, and formal documentation across clinical, academic, and workplace settings.
Conducted by Jenna Stone, LCSW-C, a licensed clinician with advanced training in neurodevelopmental assessment, including MIGDAS-2 and DIVA-5 diagnostic interview protocols. Available in-person in College Park, MD and virtually throughout Maryland, Virginia, and Florida.
WHO THIS IS FOR
Is the Comprehensive Diagnostic Assessment Right for You?
This evaluation is designed for people who want — or need — the full picture. Here are the most common reasons people choose the Comprehensive Assessment over the Focused Diagnostic Interview.
Sensory processing, interoception, and nervous system regulation significantly shape how neurodivergent people experience hunger, fullness, and food. A comprehensive evaluation clarifies how autism or ADHD may be influencing recovery — and gives your treatment team the diagnostic context they need to adapt their approach.
ARFID and feeding differences frequently overlap with autism and ADHD. Sensory processing patterns, attention differences, and interoceptive signals all influence how food is experienced and tolerated. This evaluation examines those connections in depth.
Autism, ADHD, and OCD commonly co-occur and interact in ways that shape how anxiety and compulsions present. A comprehensive evaluation helps differentiate these patterns, clarify how they overlap, and identify how treatment approaches may need to be adapted for a neurodivergent presentation.
Many neurodivergent adults have long histories of masking, misunderstanding, or sustained adaptation to environments that weren't built for them. A comprehensive evaluation helps differentiate trauma responses from underlying neurodivergent patterns — and understand how they interact — rather than collapsing one into the other.
Many adults have spent years masking or compensating in ways that effectively conceal their neurodivergence from others — and sometimes from themselves. A comprehensive evaluation maps how your brain actually works and makes sense of patterns that may have been overlooked, misattributed, or misdiagnosed.
Prescribing providers often require formal diagnostic documentation before initiating ADHD medication. The comprehensive report provides structured clinical findings — including measure scores, diagnostic conclusions, and functional impact analysis — that support those conversations and give prescribers the context they need.
For autistic and AuDHD clients, medication decisions are often more nuanced than in straightforward ADHD presentations. Sensory processing differences, interoception, demand sensitivity, and sleep patterns all influence how someone responds to stimulants and non-stimulants. Clear diagnostic context also helps differentiate autistic burnout from conditions such as major depression — patterns that can appear similar but arise from different mechanisms — so prescribers can make decisions within the correct neurological framework rather than treating burnout as a primary mood disorder.
Workplace accommodations, university disability services, and disability applications often require formal diagnostic documentation that includes functional impact analysis and specific recommendations. The comprehensive report is written to meet those standards — with DSM-5-TR and ICD-10 codes, domain-specific findings, and concrete accommodation language built in.
If your institution or disability office has specific documentation requirements, we're happy to discuss those during the free consultation before you commit to anything.
Many adults begin exploring their own neurodivergence after a child receives an autism or ADHD diagnosis. This evaluation can help you understand whether those same patterns apply to you — and give you documentation that reflects your own history and presentation.
THE SIDE QUEST APPROACH
What Makes This Evaluation Different
This evaluation meets the diagnostic standards required for formal clinical documentation — including DSM-5-TR and ICD-10 criteria, structured clinical interviews, and validated rating scales with established psychometric properties. The neuroaffirming framework shapes how findings are interpreted and communicated, not whether they meet diagnostic threshold.
A note on cognitive testing
This evaluation does not include cognitive ability testing such as IQ or processing speed measures. For autism and ADHD diagnosis in adults, the research literature consistently supports diagnostic validity from structured clinical interviews, standardized rating scales, and developmental history — the same foundation used by major diagnostic frameworks including the DSM-5-TR and NICE guidelines. Cognitive testing is not required for autism or ADHD diagnosis.
If a neuropsychological battery is clinically indicated for other reasons — learning disability documentation, academic accommodations requiring a cognitive baseline, or differential diagnosis involving cognitive concerns — that can be discussed during your consultation.
Many people pursuing evaluation have layered clinical histories that include trauma, OCD, eating disorders, chronic stress, or years of burnout from sustained masking. This evaluation is built for that complexity. Rather than forcing these experiences into a single explanation, the process examines how multiple neurological, psychological, and environmental factors interact. Where relevant, prior evaluation records are reviewed and integrated into the clinical picture.
Many adults seeking evaluation have spent years developing strategies that conceal or compensate for neurodivergent traits — strategies that can effectively mask a presentation in standard clinical contexts. This assessment intentionally evaluates masking, camouflaging, and adaptive coping so that diagnostic conclusions reflect how your brain actually functions, not just how well you've learned to perform.
Some assessments rely heavily on abstract tasks administered under controlled conditions. This evaluation focuses on how attention regulation, executive functioning, sensory processing, and social communication actually show up in daily life — at work, in relationships, under stress, and across the environments where your neurodivergence has the most impact.
Sensory processing is often treated as a brief screening item in traditional evaluations. Here it is examined in depth. Dedicated validated measures assess sensory processing patterns, interoceptive awareness, and alexithymia — the internal systems that shape how autistic and ADHD individuals experience their bodies, environments, and emotions. For clients navigating eating disorders, ARFID, or OCD, this information is often the most clinically meaningful data in the entire evaluation.
This evaluation is conducted by Jenna Stone, LCSW-C, who holds specialty training in neurodevelopmental assessment — including advanced certification in MIGDAS-2 and DIVA-5 protocols — and brings lived experience as an AuDHD clinician with a PDA profile.
Many clients find that working with a clinician who has strong pattern-recognition abilities and personal familiarity with neurodivergent experience supports the identification of patterns that are sometimes missed in more traditional evaluations — particularly subtle masking, demand sensitivity, autistic burnout cycles, and the complex interaction of multiple neurodivergent traits across contexts.
Many clients also describe the evaluation process as unexpectedly de-shaming. Working with a clinician who is open about their own neurodivergence can make it easier to talk honestly about experiences that may previously have been misunderstood, minimized, or pathologized.
This report is written to be meaningful for both you and the systems that require documentation. It includes DSM-5-TR diagnostic codes and ICD-10 codes formatted for clinical use, a summary of measure scores with clinical interpretation, functional impact analysis across home, work or school, and relational domains, and specific accommodation recommendations written for disability services and workplace use.
Findings are explained clearly and paired with practical recommendations. DSM-5-TR diagnostic criteria are addressed directly, with explicit explanation of how criteria are — or are not — met based on the clinical interview, developmental history, and assessment data.
Not sure if this is what you need? That’s what consultation is for.
It’s a 15-minute conversation — no paperwork, no commitment, no pressure to book anything after.
THE ASSESSMENT BATTERY
What's Included in the Evaluation
Your evaluation draws from a curated set of validated psychometric tools spanning multiple clinical domains. Every measure is chosen for its reliability with adult populations — with extra weight given to tools developed or normed for late-identified adults, masked presentations, and complex histories.
The specific battery is shaped by what you’re bringing to the evaluation. Your questions, your history, your presentation. That means the process stays flexible without losing its diagnostic rigor. You can also invite someone who knows you well to contribute collateral input — a partner, family member, or close friend.
Our Commitment to Accessibility
We recognize that intake paperwork and assessment forms can be a significant barrier for many neurodivergent people. Demand avoidance, executive functioning differences, and burnout can all make forms difficult to start or complete.
A complimentary body-doubling session is available to support you through the paperwork. When clinically appropriate, Jenna may streamline your battery to keep the process manageable while maintaining diagnostic integrity.
Autism
ADHD
GOING DEEPER
Want to Explore Beyond Autism & ADHD?
The Comprehensive Diagnostic Assessment focuses exclusively on the identification of autism and/or ADHD. If your clinical picture includes other areas worth exploring, additional validated screeners are available as clinically indicated add-ons at $300/hour — bookable alongside this evaluation.
Add-on screeners are available for trauma, PTSD, and dissociation — particularly relevant given the high rates of trauma in autistic and ADHD adults navigating systems that weren’t built for them. Anxiety and OCD screeners can help differentiate autistic anxiety, generalized anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive presentations from autistic rigidity, demand sensitivity, and repetitive behaviors. Mood disorder screeners capture depression, mood instability, and premenstrual mood disorders including PMDD, which co-occur with autism and ADHD at significantly elevated rates.
Other presentations — including ARFID, eating disorders, and chronic illness — can also be explored as add-ons.
WHAT YOU RECEIVE
Your Report & Feedback Session
Approximately two weeks after your evaluation session, you’ll receive your written report — either at the close of your optional feedback session, or directly if you opt out.
Comprehensive diagnostic report (20–30 pages)
A detailed written report integrating DSM-5-TR and ICD-10 diagnostic criteria with your clinical interview findings, measure results, developmental history, and functional context. Includes diagnostic conclusions, domain-specific findings, and concrete recommendations for accommodations, supports, and next steps.
Written in clinical and neuroaffirming language — not deficit-framed.
Optional 30-minute feedback session
A dedicated session with Jenna to walk through your findings and what they mean before you receive your summary. Your space to ask questions, process what came up, and leave with clarity — not just documentation.
Many people find this session the most meaningful part of the evaluation. It’s optional, but it’s there if you want it.
Lifetime Access to the Side Quest Resource Library
Every diagnosed client receives access to a living, curated Google Drive library built specifically for neurodivergent adults. It’s not a static handout — it’s an actively maintained collection that grows as the field does, and yours to keep, permanently.
Inside you’ll find resources spanning self-advocacy, accommodations, identity, mental health, and community.
THE PROCESS
How It Works
The Comprehensive Diagnostic Assessment follows the same five-step process as all evaluations at Side Quest Psychotherapy — from free consultation through to your report. The full process is outlined on the evaluations landing page, including information about body-doubling support for intake paperwork, in-person and telehealth options, and what to expect at each stage.
Fees & Cost
A comprehensive evaluation is a significant investment in understanding yourself — and we’ve built our payment process to make it as accessible as possible without compromising the quality of your assessment. When you’re ready to book, a nonrefundable $200 deposit reserves your evaluation dates and goes directly toward your total fee. From there, you choose how to handle the rest: pay in full across your two appointments or spread the balance over 3 or 6 months.
Ready to Get the Full Picture?
Jenna Stone, LCSW-C, offers comprehensive neuroaffirming autism and ADHD evaluations in person in College Park, Maryland and via telehealth for clients in Maryland, Virginia, and Florida. If you’ve been waiting for an evaluation that takes your full history seriously, this is it.